Fight of Our Lives
by BabyBlueGrl02
Summary: The entire gang are aliens, but the girls grew up with Amy in New York while the guys grew up with Jim in Roswell. Read inside for a full summary! CC but mainly MM!
1. Default Chapter

Author: Ashlee Title: Fight of our Lives Category: It's going to be CC but I'll focus more on the girls than the actual relationships, and I love M/M so you'll probably see them the most Disclaimer: I own nothing!!! Rating: PG-13 at the most, I think Summary: Totally AU. I made this as a challenge, but no one took it so I decided to try it myself. Here's some of the challenge:  
  
Alright it's gotta be CC, focusing mostly on Micheal and Maria because....well, b/c its me, hehe. Anyway, Micheal, Kyle, Alex, and Max are aliens and they grew up in Roswell. Maria, Tess, Isabel, and Liz are aliens that grew up in New York. the girls grew up with amy as their protector and guardian and amy moves them to roswell where they meet the guys who has jim as their protector. the girls are running from kivar and nicholous and when they come to roswell they guys try to help them out and only cause more trouble. anyway, somethin happens and they get shipped to antar where they find their family and find out about themselves. they find out that Micheal and Maria are the future king and queen of Antar. anyway on antar there is a huge war and they start to train for the war. the guys somehow get sent back on earth for some reason and the girls are forced to fight for the freedom of Antar on their own with all of their soldiers ignoring them and putting them down b/c they are women and they don't believe in them. the girls eventually get mad and set the rules straight about who is in charge and the soldiers have no choice but to listen.  
  
My main point of this challenge is to show the friendship between the girls in tough situations and show woman power and independence! yeah! lol.  
  
Chapter 1  
  
"They're gaining on us!" Liz yelled from the passenger seat of the Jetta. "Go faster!"  
  
"I'm going as fast as I can!" Isabel yelled from the driver's seat of the car. She looked and the rearview mirror and saw that the two cars chasing them did not look to be giving up any time soon.  
  
"I can't keep it up that much longer Izzy! I'm losing energy!" Liz yelled as she once again raised her hand and shot a bolt of light blinding the drivers momentarily.  
  
"Oh shit!" Isabel exclaimed, grabbing Liz's attention.  
  
"What?" Liz asked turning to Isabel. She followed her gaze and saw that another pair of cars were heading their way. "We're trapped!" she exclaimed.  
  
Isabel stopped the car and looked at Liz. After years of running for Khivar and his army, it looked like they were finally going to get caught. Isabel turned to look at Liz, the girl who was like a sister to her, and took a hold of her hand. She could see the fear in her eyes and did her best to comfort her.  
  
"I love you Lizzy," she said.  
  
"I love you too Izzy," Liz said as she got out of the car.  
  
"Ah, finally. You know, you two have been a pain in my side for too long," Khivar said as he headed toward Isabel and Liz. "Well you, and-" he started only to be cut off by the sound of screeching tires coming from behind him. Before he could turn around he felt a bolt of lightning hit him and throw him across the street, knocking him to the ground. One by one, his followers were also being hit by the bolt and knocked unconscious.  
  
"Get in!!!" Maria yelled as she and Tess continued to use their powers on Khivar and his soldiers.  
  
Isabel and Liz rushed to the jeep and hopped in as Amy did a U-turn and sped away.  
  
"Dammit! I will see you four dead if it's the last thing I do!" Khivar yelled at the fleeing truck before slipping into unconsciousness.  
  
"That was too close!" Maria yelled as Isabel and Liz settled in the back seat next to Tess.  
  
"Tell me about it," Isabel said still trying to catch her breath.  
  
"What the hell were you two thinking going out like that with telling anyone?" Amy yelled at them.  
  
"We just wanted to go pick up a birthday present for you mom," Liz replied to the lady who had been like a mother to all of them all their lives.  
  
"As nice as that is, your life is in too much danger to be worrying about such idle things like presents," Amy said, softening her voice.  
  
"Sorry," they mumbled in unison.  
  
"Guys, we need a plan," Maria said taking on her serious tone. "Khivar's army is getting stronger and they're attacking us a lot more now. It's only a matter of time before he finally captures and kills us," said.  
  
"I won't let that happen," Amy said sternly. "When I adopted you four, I agreed to protect you at all costs, and that what I'm going to do. I don't give a damn if Khivar brings soldiers from every planet out there, he will not kill you, I'll make sure of that."  
  
"Mom, there's only so much you can do. You're still human, and while having you know about our alien status has been helpful, it's still dangerous for you," Tess said trying to make her understand.  
  
"I said I would protect you, and I will protect you," she said determinedly as she thought back to the time when she made that promise to them.  
  
*Flashback*  
  
"Girls? Girls, where are you?" Amy asked walking into her house looking for her four nine year old girls. "Where could they be?" she asked herself. She headed up the stairs and checked Isabel and Liz's room to see if they were there. After seeing that their room was empty, she went across the hall and prepared to enter Maria and Tess's room. Hearing noises and seeing that the door was slightly upon, Amy peeked inside their room.  
  
"Why can't we tell Mom?" Liz asked. "I really want her to know."  
  
"I want her to know too, Lizzie," Maria replied. "But what if Mom decides that she doesn't want a group of aliens living in her house? What if she sends us back to the orphanage? Do you really want that?" she asked.  
  
"What the hell are they talking about?" Amy whispered to herself.  
  
"Ria's right Liz," Isabel stated. "I want Mom to know, but I don't want to loose her either. We just have to keep this to ourselves."  
  
"What about you Tessie?" Liz asked looking at Tess with tearful and hopeful eyes.  
  
"I'm sorry Lizzie, this is for the best," she said before taking Liz into her arms and allowing her to cry on her shoulder.  
  
"This is for the best guys," Maria said with her own tears in her eyes. "It's us four against the world, that's how it's always been, that's how it'll always be," she said putting her hand out in front of her.  
  
Liz, Isabel, and Tess soon followed her lead and put their hands on top of hers. Within seconds a gold-ish color illuminated from their hands and filled the whole room. Seconds later the color was gone and the room was back to its normal shade.  
  
"What the hell was that?" Amy asked fearfully as she entered the room.  
  
"Mom!" Maria said, startled that Amy had seen them.  
  
"What was that and what did you mean by aliens?" she asked still looking at all of them in shock. The four of them stared at her in shock and fear before Isabel finally spoke up.  
  
"We're aliens. We don't know much about ourselves, but from what we remember from our past lives, which is very little, we were sent here because of trouble on our planet. We were in incubator pods for forty years before we finally hatched. There are four more of us out there, but we're not sure where they are or if they even know about us," Isabel explained.  
  
Amy looked at them as if they were crazy before she burst out laughing. "That's the funniest thing I ever heard! Is this some kind of joke? How did you add the gold light, was there some secret button that you pressed?" she asked still laughing hysterically.  
  
"Guess we'll have to show you," Maria said before getting up and changing her purple shirt to white and her black jeans to a dark blue color. Isabel, Liz, and Tess, followed her example and did the same thing.  
  
"Oh my God," Amy said looking at them in shock. "Why didn't you tell me?" she asked.  
  
"We were afraid you would want us and we know that someone out there wants to hurt us and we didn't want you in danger if we were ever forced to leave you," Tess explained.  
  
"I can't believe this," she said taking a seat on Maria's bed. She looked at the girls who were like daughters to her and realized at that moment that she never live without them. "Listen girls, I don't care what happens in the future, I promise you right now that I will protect you with everything in me, okay?"  
  
"Thank you mom," Liz said excitedly as she ran over and hugged Amy. Tess, Isabel, and Maria quickly followed her.  
  
"I will never let anything happen to you," Amy said as she hugged her girls tighter.  
  
*End Flashback*  
  
"MOM!" Maria yelled knocking Amy out of her reverie.  
  
"I'm sorry, what did you say honey?" she asked.  
  
"I asked if you were okay. You seemed out of it for a while there," Maria said looking at Amy.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, I was just thinking," Amy replied.  
  
"All right then. Now, back to the situation, what do you guys think we should do? It's becoming obvious the New York is no longer safe for us," Maria stated.  
  
"Do we really have to leave? I love the city," Isabel said not liking the idea of leaving the only city she had ever known.  
  
"Me too," Liz and Tess replied sharing the same feelings as Isabel.  
  
"You guys know that I would never willingly leave this place, but we have to. I think a small town would be better for us. There is no way Khivar could easily attack us if we live in a small town surrounded by neighbors and witnesses. In New York, people are too busy with their own problems to notice if someone were to just get snatched from the street and into an alleyway," Maria said.  
  
"Maria's right, we should go to a small town, preferably somewhere really far from New York," Amy added.  
  
"Does anyone have any ideas?" Liz asked.  
  
"Sorry, but I'm not too familiar with the suburbs," Isabel replied.  
  
"Me either," Tess added.  
  
"We'll think of something," Amy said as she parked the car and got out. She and the girls entered the hotel room that had been their home for the past couple of weeks. Due to Khivar's constant attacks on them, they were forced to change their residency every couple of weeks. Amy headed straight for the bathroom while Liz and Tess started watching T.V. Maria sat on the bed and started to read the latest newspaper while Isabel headed straight for her laptop to do research on small towns. After twenty minutes of research, she saw something that caught her eye.  
  
"Hey guys, come check this out," she said. Liz, Maria, Tess, and Amy headed toward her, wondering what she found.  
  
"What is it?" Amy asked.  
  
"Read this article, it was published almost a year ago," she said.  
  
"Alright," Maria said before starting to read the article.  
  
'Restaurant Owner in Peculiar Gun shooting' By Billy Woodrow  
  
"Roswell restaurant owner, Jeff Parker, was caught in a shootout earlier this week in his own alien-themed restaurant called the Crashdown. The mysterious thing about the shooting is that witnesses say they saw Parker get hit with the bullet and then saw a young teenage boy by the name of Max Evans, who works for Parker, go up to him and a few seconds later Evans was running out of the restaurant with three other employees of Parker by the names of Michael Guerin, Alex Whitman, and Kyle Valenti, who happens to be the son of the town's sheriff. Parker claims that he was not hit with a bullet and that the red substance on his shirt was actually nothing but ketchup. Witnesses were wary of this explanation and some witness claim to have seen a silver handprint planted where the bullet allegedly hit Parker. Officers quickly explained that Parker's explanation was believable and soon dismissed the entire incident. As a journalist and a believer in anything I wouldn't be surprised if there was some alien activity going on that day. After all, this is Roswell, home of the aliens."  
  
"Silver handprint?" Liz asked fearfully. "Do you know what that means? If this is real, that could mean that the other aliens are in Roswell."  
  
"Wait, calm down. We can't rush into this or jump to conclusions," Isabel said.  
  
"Calm down? You know that the only other time we see those silver handprints is when one of us heals ourselves, that's the only explanation to what happened in Roswell," Liz said getting anxious and nervous.  
  
"Liz is right. I mean we all have vague memories of the other four aliens being guys that we were close with, it does seem to match," Maria said as she put the pieces together in her head.  
  
"So I guess that answers that question," Tess said.  
  
"About what?" Maria asked turning to Tess.  
  
"About where we're going to," Amy said understanding what Tess was saying. "Roswell, here we come"  
  
TBC.  
  
Tell me what you think please!! I'm not sure if I'll continue, it depends on the feedback, so please leave some!!! 


	2. Chapter 2

I just wanted to let you guys know that I'm making the entire gang 18 years olds in their senior year of high school instead of sophomores. I just think it works out better this way. And, Michael isn't closed off from everyone in this story. The girls are more guarded than the guys. Thanks.  
  
Chapter 2  
  
"This sucks," Isabel said with a pout.  
  
"Yes, you've made that unbelievably clear to us since last night Isabel," Tess said slightly annoyed with Isabel's complaints.  
  
"We don't even know what we're going to do when we get there," she said.  
  
"Well, we'll figure that out when we get there," Amy said from her position at the driver's seat.  
  
"We'll make the best of it, Izzy," Maria said trying to make Isabel feel better about having to leave New York. She didn't like leaving either and she was sure that she'd hate Roswell, but she knew that they weren't safe in New York anymore. They had to leave as quickly as possible.  
  
"Yeah, as long as we've got each other, we'll be fine," Liz said resting her head on Isabel's shoulder.  
  
"Fine," Isabel said finally giving up her fight. "I might as well accept it, we might be there for a while. Where are we now, mom?" she asked leaning forward from the backseat.  
  
"Well we're somewhere in Arkansas right now, so we'll probably get there by late tonight," Amy replied.  
  
"All right, I'm going back to sleep," she said already drifting off to sleep.  
  
A few hours later everyone in the car was asleep except for Amy and Maria.  
  
"Don't you want to get some sleep honey?" Amy asked.  
  
"No, I'll keep you company," she said. After a pause, she asked what had been on her mind all night. "Do you think we're doing the right thing?" she asked.  
  
"Of course I do. This could be your chance to find four other people just like you," Amy replied.  
  
"But what if we're making a big mistake. I know that Tess, Isabel, and Liz wouldn't have agreed to this if I didn't agree. They always look to me to make the final decisions, which is okay with me, but what if I made the wrong decision this time?" Maria asked worried about what they were getting into.  
  
"Honey, you made a decision that you think is the best thing for all of you, and that's all they could ask of you. They're not going to resent you if something bad happens, they're basically your sisters and they love you," Amy said trying to reassure Maria.  
  
"Thanks, I already knew that, but it feels better to hear it from someone else," Maria said with a smile.  
  
"No problem, now why don't you get some sleep and forget about keeping me company, okay?"  
  
"All right," Maria said before falling asleep.  
  
In Roswell.  
  
"That's game," Michael said as he, Kyle, Max, and Alex finished their basketball game.  
  
"What do you guys want to do now?" Alex asked.  
  
"Kyle and I can't do anything. We're going to have dinner with dad," Michael said.  
  
"What about you, Max?" Alex asked.  
  
"I'm working at the Crashdown till closing," Max replied as they all headed toward Michael's car.  
  
"So I'm all alone now?" Alex asked.  
  
"You could join us for dinner," Kyle said settling in the passenger side of the car next to Michael.  
  
"Fine," Alex said settling next to Max in the back seat as Michael started drive.  
  
"So how are the Whitman's?" Kyle asked referring to Alex's adopted parents.  
  
"Still freaked out about my alien status," Alex replied with a roll of his eyes. "They act like I'm going to orb them to another planet or something. I knew they wouldn't be able to handle this," he said.  
  
"It's been almost a year since they found out, you'd think they'd get over it. Phillip and Diane got over it after only a week," Max said referring to his adopted parents.  
  
"That's what I'm saying," Alex replied getting annoyed with the Whitman's behavior toward him. "It doesn't matter anyway. Since I moved in with you guys, I've had to see them less and less, and I think they'd prefer it to stay that way," he said.  
  
"Diane and Phillip could barely hold back their tears when I moved in with you guys," Max replied.  
  
"Yeah, that sounds like them," Michael said with a smile, picturing Phillip and Diane's reaction to Max moving out. He parked the jeep in the parking lot of their apartment, and they all got out and headed upstairs.  
  
"Hey guys, try and get some food from dad's house when you go there," Max said looking in their refrigerator and seeing that they had nothing edible.  
  
"You know how he gets on our back about not doing our own grocery shopping," Kyle said from his position on the couch.  
  
"Well we're running low on food, and none of us get our paycheck till the end of next week," Max replied.  
  
"We'll see what we can do," Alex replied from his room.  
  
"All right, I've got to get to work, tell dad that I said hi and if you guys have time, stop by the Crashdown," Max said to the guys who were like brothers to him.  
  
"All right, see ya later," Michael replied.  
  
An hour later, Michael, Kyle, and Alex, found themselves sitting in Jim Valenti's living room after dinner.  
  
"So are you're all doing well in all of your classes?" Jim asked all of them, but looked pointedly at Michael and Kyle.  
  
"Of course dad, why do you ask?" Michael asked slightly nervous.  
  
"Maybe because I received a call this week from you school saying that you and Kyle haven't been to third period for almost five days," Jim replied looking sternly at them. Michael and Kyle looked at Jim in shock while Alex laughed at the look on their faces.  
  
"Well, you see, what happened was." Kyle said trying to come up with an excuse to explain why he and Michael cut their class,  
  
"There's no way you can explain skipping class. Now unless it is something alien related, you two are to go to every single class, is that clear?" he asked.  
  
"Yes," they replied sullenly with their heads down.  
  
"I told you that he would find out," Alex replied, still laughing.  
  
"And you," Jim said looking at Alex. "Next time you know that they're doing something like this, you tell me. Is that clear?" he asked sternly.  
  
"Um, yes," he replied nervously to the man basically raised him.  
  
"Good, now let's head to the Crashdown to see Max," he said already heading out of the house.  
  
At the Crashdown, Max had just finished closing the restaurant and was putting everything away when the guys arrived.  
  
"Hey Max," Jim said.  
  
"Hey, dad," Max replied to the man who he considered his father.  
  
"Where are Nancy and Jeff?" Michael asked.  
  
"Right here," Jeff said coming in from the backroom with Nancy. "How are you doing Jim?" he asked.  
  
"Good, I hope my boys are doing well here at work," he said.  
  
"Yeah, they're my best employees yet," Jeff said. Ever since Max had healed him when he was shot a year ago, he held a newfound respect for him and his quasi brothers. He made it his number one priority to watch over them and protect them at all costs. Since he and Nancy never had any children of their own, they constantly looked out for the boys and considered them their own children.  
  
"How are Phillip and Diane?" Nancy asked.  
  
"Okay, I guess," Max replied. "It's been a few days since I've seen them. They said they would come by tonight, but I guess they changed they're minds."  
  
"Guess again," Phillip said as he and Diane walked in from the back. "Sorry, we're late."  
  
"It's okay," Max said going over to hug both of them.  
  
"How are you guys doing?" Diane asked as she went over to hug Michael, Kyle, and Alex, all three boys who were like sons to her.  
  
"Good," Michael replied. "No alien attacks or anything," he joked.  
  
"That's not funny," Diane said with a fear shining in her eyes.  
  
"It was just a joke, relax Diane," Michael said, feeling sorry for scaring Diane. "Don't worry, no one besides everyone in this room and the Whitman's know our secret. We're completely safe," he said trying to reassure her.  
  
"All right, if you're sure," Diane replied.  
  
"Hey could you guys help me?" Max said referring to the mess he had to clean up.  
  
"Yeah, sure," Alex replied before they all got to work and started to clean up the restaurant.  
  
Meanwhile.  
  
"Are we there yet?" Liz asked for the third time just to piss off everyone.  
  
"Yes, finally!" Amy said, exasperated.  
  
"So, what do we do now?" Tess asked.  
  
"We find someone who can give us directions to a hotel," Amy said.  
  
"Who?" Isabel asked seeing that absolutely no one was walking on the street. 'Probably because it's midnight,' she thought to herself. "In New York, we would have already found someone," she said.  
  
"Whatever, Izzy," Maria replied. "Look there's a restaurant right there and the lights are on. We'll just ask for directions and be on our way," she said pointing to the Crashdown restaurant.  
  
"Please tell me I'm not seeing what I think I'm seeing," Liz said looking at the Crashdown.  
  
"Oh my God, is that a spaceship on the ceiling?" Isabel asked. "Great, the first thing we see in this town is an alien themed restaurant. That's always a good sign," she said sarcastically.  
  
"Let's just get the directions and go," Tess said getting out of the car and heading toward the door. She looked in and saw a large group of people cleaning up the restaurant. She raised her hand and knocked on the door, waiting for one of them to let her in. A tall dark haired boy about her age came over to the door.  
  
"I'm sorry, but we're closed," he said.  
  
"We don't want to stay. We just wanted to see if one of you could give us directions to a good hotel around here," Tess replied as the rest of the girls came up behind her.  
  
"Oh, sure, come on in. My name's Max," Max said letting all of them in the restaurant.  
  
"Hi Max," Maria said. "My name is Maria, that's Tess, Isabel, Liz, and our mom Amy," Maria said pointing at each person as she called their names.  
  
"What's going on Max?" Jeff asked wondering who these girls were.  
  
"They just wanted directions to a hotel," Max replied.  
  
"Are you visiting Roswell?" Michael asked looking at the girl who introduced herself as Maria. 'She's hot,' he thought to himself.  
  
"We're moving here," Tess replied.  
  
"Why are you staying at a hotel then?" Alex asked confused.  
  
"That's not really your business," Isabel replied coolly not liking the questions they were being asked.  
  
"You'll have to excuse my daughter, it's been a long ride and we're all a little cranky," Amy said trying to explain Isabel's ice queen attitude.  
  
"Okay," Alex replied still taken back by Isabel's response to him. "My name is Alex, and that's Michael, Kyle, Jim, our dad, Nancy, Jeff, Phillip, and Diane," he said introducing everyone.  
  
"Hello," they all replied.  
  
"So what brings you ladies to Roswell?" Max asked trying to get rid of the uncomfortable silence in the room.  
  
"No offense, but we're all really tired. Could we please just have the directions so that we can leave?" Maria said not wanting to explain their reason for being in Roswell.  
  
"Why do you all keep avoiding our questions?" Michael asked suspiciously.  
  
"Because the questions you ask are none of your business," Maria replied not liking the suspicious look Michael was giving her.  
  
"They're just simple questions. There's nothing too personal about them, unless you're hiding something," he said coming to stand in front of Maria in a tall stance.  
  
'Does he think he can intimidate me? Just because he's really hot and really tall, and well built doesn't mean he can scare me,' Maria thought to herself.  
  
"Would you kindly get out of my face?" she said looking him in the eye.  
  
"Just answer our questions," Michael replied.  
  
"You know what, we don't need this. Could somebody give us a damn address so we can get out of here? The four of us have to start school tomorrow morning and we don't have time to participate in some mindless conversation," she said rudely surprising many people in the room. No one ever talked to Michael like that; it was just an unwritten rule.  
  
Before Michael could respond to Maria, Liz cut in, also annoyed with the questions they were being asked.  
  
"I don't know why you guys are asking these questions, but we're not going to answer them. So give us a hotel name, and we'll leave. It's as simple as that," she told them.  
  
"There's a hotel about ten minutes from here. Just keep going straight from here and you'll run into it," Diane replied trying to ease the tension.  
  
"Thank you," Amy replied, leading all of the girls to the door.  
  
"We don't like too much trouble and commotion in this town," Kyle called out in a warning voice.  
  
"That's too bad. You're in for a rude awakening," Tess replied in a serious tone as she and the others left the restaurant.  
  
"Why do I feel like she's not lying?" Kyle asked once they left.  
  
"Probably because she's not," Alex replied also worried about what was to come.  
  
"It doesn't matter, we've spent all our lived hiding this secret and not a single person has tried to hurt us. We'll be fine," Max said.  
  
"Yeah, sure," Michael replied sarcastically. "It's only a matter of time before someone comes after us."  
  
"It's too late for this. We'll talk more about it tomorrow at school," Kyle said preparing to leave.  
  
"He's right, let's go," Michael said going over to hug Diane and Nancy. "We'll see you guys tomorrow after school. Bye dad."  
  
"Bye dad," Max said to Jim after hugging Nancy and Diane. Alex and Kyle did the same thing before walking out of the restaurant.  
  
TBC  
  
I know I haven't explained a lot of things, like why everyone calls Jim 'dad' but I promise to explain everything in later chapter, you just have to stick with me.  
  
Please leave feedback!!!! 


	3. Chapter 3

I'm a big M/M fan so I'll put more M/M action in this story than anything else. I'm not a very big dreamer, so, although they'll be together eventually, I probably won't focus on the romance of Max and Liz too much, sorry to all the Dreamers.  
  
I don't feel too good about this chapter, so tell me what you think!!!  
  
Chapter 3  
  
The Next Day.  
  
"Will you three hurry up? We're going to be late again," Max said as he waited for Alex, Michael, and Kyle to finish getting ready.  
  
"Would you relax? Geez, it's not like we're going to meet the president; it's just school," Michael said walking out of his room.  
  
"Well some of us like to be on time to get a good education," Max replied.  
  
"Not some of us, Max - just you," Kyle said as he and Alex walked into their living room.  
  
"Whatever. Can we go now?" he asked annoyed that he was going to be late once again.  
  
"Sir, yes sir!" Alex said with a mock salute as they left their apartment.  
  
"So I heard that you two finally got caught," Max said to Kyle and Michael from the driver's seat. "I told you that it was only a matter of time before Dad found you guys were skipping third period," he said while laughing.  
  
"Yeah, laugh it up Maxwell," Michael said dryly. "Seriously, can you blame us? Who willingly exerts energy for something as stupid as gym class?" he asked, not really expecting an answer.  
  
"Maybe people who want to graduate?" Alex said sarcastically.  
  
"Whatever," Michael replied with a roll of his eyes. They pulled into the parking lot and headed into the building. After stopping by each of their lockers, they headed to their first period class, Physics.  
  
Meanwhile.  
  
"And that's it. Does anyone have any questions?" the principal asked. After realizing that they weren't going to say anything, Principal Anderson handed Maria, Liz, Tess, and Isabel their schedules. "You all have first period together, so I'll lead you there now," he said.  
  
"I can already tell that this school year is going to suck," Maria said to Isabel as they walked down the hall.  
  
"I know what you mean," Isabel replied, rolling her eyes at the alien stickers that she saw on some lockers.  
  
"We leave New York to escape all of our problems, only to come here and have people mock our race. This town already sucks," Liz whispered to them.  
  
"Here you are ladies," Principal Anderson said, opening the door for the girls. "Enjoy your day," he said before leaving.  
  
"You must be the new students. My name is Mrs. Jackson, and I'll be your Physics teacher for the year," Mrs. Jackson with a smile as she ushered the girls into the room. "Would you girls like to tell us something about yourselves?" she asked.  
  
"Sure," Isabel replied already putting up her cool, nonchalant exterior. "My name is Isabel Deluca, and these are my sisters Maria, Tess, and Liz and we moved here from New York with our mom," she said keeping her explanation as simple as possible.  
  
"All right then," Mrs. Jackson said after seeing that Isabel wasn't going to say anything more. "Since you ladies have come here in December, I think it will be better if I pair you with lab partners who already know what we're doing," she said. Looking around the room, she tried to find her four best students to pair with the girls. 'There's Max Evans, Alex Whitman, Kyle Valenti, when he tries, and.Michael Guerin. As much as that boy annoys me, I can't deny the fact that he is one of my best students.' She thought to herself. Turning around, she spoke to the girls.  
  
"Okay, I'm going to pair you girls with my four best students. Liz, you can go sit next to Max Evans. Please raise your hand Max," she said.  
  
"I already know who he is," Liz said walking over to Max.  
  
"I see. Anyway, Isabel you will be partners with Alex Whitman. Tess, you can sit with Kyle Valenti, and Maria, you and Michael will be lab partners," she said.  
  
"Great," Maria mumbled sarcastically under her breath as she made her way over to Michael's table.  
  
"You again?" Michael asked in an annoyed voice.  
  
"This isn't exactly a bed of roses for me either," Maria said with a roll of her eyes.  
  
"One thing we're going to have to get straight, I don't like to be annoyed. So if you just keep your mouth shut whenever you're around me, you and I will have no problems," he said.  
  
"Well that's too bad, because I take orders from no one," Maria said staring at Michael. "So you'll just have to learn to respond to me whenever I ask you something, okay?"  
  
Michael stared at Maria, slightly surprised by her attitude toward him. No one had ever challenged him or tried to order him around. 'Who the hell does she think she is?' he asked himself silently.  
  
"Whatever," he said, not knowing what else to say.  
  
"Good comeback," Maria said sarcastically before turning her attention to the teacher.  
  
Behind them, Kyle and Tess were just settling down.  
  
"So, what do you think of Roswell?" Kyle asked.  
  
"We haven't been here long enough to do any sightseeing," Tess replied looking at the teacher.  
  
"I see. Well, if you want, I could show you around Roswell today after school," he suggested.  
  
"No, no, that's okay," Tess said not wanting to form any attachments. "My sisters and I have to finish unpacking and I don't think I'll have time to do anything," she said.  
  
"Well what about tomorrow?" Kyle asked, wanting to get to know one of the newest residents of Roswell.  
  
"I really don't think it's a good idea. I'm really busy and quite frankly, I'm uninterested," Tess said rudely, trying to get Kyle to back off.  
  
"Oh, ok," Kyle said, slightly hurt by Tess's rude tone to him.  
  
"I'm sorry," Tess said feeling bad about what she said. "It's just, I'm really not looking for any new relationships right now," she said.  
  
"That's fine," Kyle said deciding to let the subject drop, for now.  
  
"I know we didn't really get off on a good start yesterday night, but I hope that we can good partners this year," Alex said to Isabel as she listened to the teacher.  
  
"Sure, I could use an A this school year," Isabel replied not bothering to look at Alex.  
  
"That's good," Alex said. "So, why would you guys leave New York to come to a hellhole like Roswell?" he asked.  
  
"Do you always ask questions that aren't your business?" she asked turning toward Alex.  
  
"Only when I feel like someone is going out of their way to hide something," Alex replied.  
  
"Well maybe you should mind your own business and let it stay hidden," Isabel replied. "Not that I'm hiding anything," she added.  
  
"We'll see about that," Alex said in a serious tone before turning back to the teacher.  
  
"So.do you like Physics?" Max asked trying to start a conversation.  
  
"Yeah, besides Biology, it's my favorite subject," Liz replied.  
  
"Mine too," Max said.  
  
"Cool," she replied. "Sorry about the way my sisters and I acted last night. We were all just tired and cranky. It was nothing personal."  
  
"It's okay," Max replied. "Although, you may want to tell that to Michael. He wouldn't stop complaining about the way Maria talked to him," Max said with a laugh as he remembered Michael's complaints from last night.  
  
"Yeah, Maria was the same way. She kept referring to him as 'the spiky haired one.'" Liz said with a laugh.  
  
"Everyone always makes fun of Michael's hair," Max said with a laugh. "Hey, if you're not doing anything today, maybe you and I could go out after school," he said.  
  
"I can't. I just got out of a long relationship and I'm not ready to date yet," Liz lied.  
  
"Oh, ok," Max replied sadly. "Maybe another time," he said.  
  
"Maybe," Liz replied turning away from Max.  
  
"What's your deal anyway?" Michael asked Maria towards the end of the period.  
  
"Excuse me?" she asked.  
  
"Why are you so guarded? You've been closed off and suspicious of everything since we first met," he said.  
  
"And you haven't?" she asked. "You've been looking at my sisters and I like we're the devil since we came here," she said.  
  
"I'm just making sure that you guys don't bring any trouble. My dad is the sheriff, after all," he replied.  
  
"Whatever, I really don't care," Maria said not believing him. Hearing the bell ring, she gathered her things and headed out the door with her sisters.  
  
"They're hiding something," Alex said to his brothers once they were alone in the room.  
  
"I know. I couldn't get anything out of Tess," Kyle said.  
  
"Same here," Max and Michael said.  
  
"We have to try harder," Michael said. "I don't know what their secret is, but I'm going to find out. You guys do your best, and I'll see what I can do with Maria," he said in a leadership voice.  
  
"Okay," they replied before leaving the classroom and heading to their next classes.  
  
It was finally lunch period and Maria was on a mission to find Michael. She had tolerated his interrogation last night, she tolerated his rudeness in first period, she even tolerated the pointless arguments he had started with her in all of their morning classes, but now he had gone to far. Spotting him on an outside table with Max, Kyle, and Alex, she made her way over.  
  
"Guerin!" she yelled reaching their table and standing across from him.  
  
"Yes?" Michael asked innocently.  
  
"Don't try and act innocent with me, I know what you did," she said angrily.  
  
"I have no idea what you're talking about," he said with a smile.  
  
"Don't give me that! You took the last bagel in the cafeteria! You knew that I wanted it, and you took it!" she yelled.  
  
"I had no clue that you wanted that bagel," he lied.  
  
"Don't lie to me! You were right there when I told Tess that I wanted to eat a bagel for lunch."  
  
"Oh! That's right! It must have slipped my mind," he said with a smirk. "Look I was hungry, and I wanted a bagel. I didn't buy it just to piss you off, you're not that special," he said.  
  
"Then why did you buy it? You hate plain bagels," Alex said with a smile, knowing that he had just ruined Michael's lie. Michael turned to glare at Alex while Maria reached over and smacked him on the back of the head.  
  
"You jerk!" she said. She was about to smack his head again when Isabel, Tess, and Liz walked over to her.  
  
"What's going on? Why are you hitting him?" Tess asked, seeing Maria hit Michael.  
  
"Michael bought the last plain bagel!" Maria exclaimed as though it were the most obvious thing.  
  
"Ohhh," they replied, as though it explained everything.  
  
"Excuse me, but it's just a bagel, I don't see what the big deal is," Michael said.  
  
"The big deal is that no one keeps Maria away from a bagel," Liz said. "She goes crazy if she doesn't have at least one bagel a day."  
  
"Whatever, she'll just have to learn that she can't always get what she wants," Michael said.  
  
"We'll see about that," Maria said before taking a seat next to Michael and taking half of his bagel from his hand. Before Michael could protest, she already had it in her mouth.  
  
"Hey!" he exclaimed.  
  
"Sorry, all gone," Maria said with a smile as she finished the bagel.  
  
"You.you.cheesehead!" he stuttered.  
  
"Cheesehead? Very original, dorkbutt," Maria replied sarcastically.  
  
"Hey, let's try and act like mature teenagers," Tess said before Maria and Michael could get into another argument. She had had two extra classes, besides Physics, with Maria and Michael and had seen them argue all morning; she wasn't in the mood for another one.  
  
"You owe me for that bagel," Michael said.  
  
"I don't owe you a damn thing," Maria said as her sisters settled into seats around the table.  
  
"And what the hell is this? No one invited you girls to sit here," he said.  
  
"No one needs to, we invite ourselves," Isabel said.  
  
"Obviously," he muttered to himself.  
  
"What was that, Guerin?" Maria asked.  
  
"Nothing," Michael replied, not wanting to hear another one of Maria's babbling sessions.  
  
"Good," Maria said.  
  
Alex, Max, and Kyle looked at Maria with shock evident in their eyes. How had she been able to get Michael to finally keep his mouth shut? However she did it, it was obvious that the outspoken Michael they all knew had finally found his match in Maria Deluca. What fun this would be! 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4  
  
"You know, you girls could help us," Michael said, clearly annoyed.  
  
"Sorry, manual labor isn't really our thing," Maria replied with a smile from her seat next to Tess in the booth.  
  
"Yeah, obviously," Michael muttered.  
  
He, along with Max, Kyle, and Alex, had just finished closing the Crashdown for the night and were now trying to clean up the restaurant. Maria, Isabel, Tess, and Liz had stopped by just before closing and were now sitting in the booth, waiting for them to finish so that they could hang out. It had been a little over two months since the girls arrived in Roswell and over that time, the eight of them had already formed a great friendship. Even Michael and Maria acted like best friends, well when they weren't yelling and arguing with each other.  
  
"Could you guys hurry up? Some of us have a curfew," Liz said from her seat.  
  
"Hey, unless you're willing to help, shut up," Kyle said from behind the counter.  
  
The girls laughed at Kyle's comment and continued to wait for them. Finally, Isabel got impatient and decided to use her powers to clean off the tables around her when the guys weren't looking.  
  
"Stop it, Isabel," Maria said after realizing what Isabel was doing.  
  
"I'm just helping them out," she replied.  
  
"They might notice, so stop it," Maria said in an authoritive tone that left no room for argument.  
  
"Fine," she said with a pout. A few minutes later, Alex walked over to them.  
  
"Hey, what happened here?" he asked.  
  
"What are you talking about?" Tess asked.  
  
"These tables were completely dirty ten minutes ago, now they're squeaky clean. How did that happen?" he asked.  
  
"Well I decided to help you guys so that we could leave earlier," Isabel said.  
  
"First of all, you never willingly clean unless you're mad or worried, and secondly, there is no way you could have gotten all of these tables that clean in only ten minutes," Alex said.  
  
"I worked very quickly," she lied.  
  
"You're lying to me," Alex said exasperated. "Dammit, how long is this going to go on?" he asked in a loud voice, attracting the attention of Michael, Max, and Kyle.  
  
"What the hell are you talking about?" Tess asked a little nervously.  
  
"I'm talking about this big secret the four of you have!" he exclaimed. "Every time I'm around any one of you, I can tell that you're going out of your way to avoid talking about yourselves. It's been two months and the four us know almost nothing about the four of you!"  
  
"Of course you know us," Isabel said.  
  
"No, we don't," Michael spoke up. "Sure, we know little things like the fact that Maria is afraid of spiders or Tess is afraid of heights, but we don't really know you. You never talk about your family or why you moved to Roswell, we know nothing," he said.  
  
"You know all you need to know," Maria spoke up. "And what about you guys? Neither one of you have explained to us why all of you call Jim 'dad' or why the Evans refer to Max as their son, or why you guys, along with the Evans, Parkers, and Whitman's always meet here every Friday night after closing like its some big secret meeting. So don't stand there and yell at us for not opening up to you, because you guys are doing the same thing!"  
  
"It's not the same thing!" Michael yelled getting in Maria's face.  
  
"It's exactly the same thing!" Maria yelled, just as loud.  
  
"We need to get Michael to calm down," Kyle whispered to Max.  
  
"I know. If he gets too angry, he'll probably blow something up in front of the girls," Max whispered back.  
  
"Calm down, Michael," Kyle said out loud, knowing how out of control his powers were whenever he was angry.  
  
"That's it! You girls are going to tell us everything tonight," Michael said, completely ignoring Kyle.  
  
"Excuse me?" Maria asked indignantly. "My sisters and I will not sit here while you guys interrogate us," she said.  
  
"Look, we just want the truth, that's it," Max said trying to smooth things out.  
  
"The truth? That's really funny, coming from you, Max," Liz said with a laugh.  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Max asked confused.  
  
"It means that you, along with your 'brothers' are nothing but liars. You want us to be honest with you, when you guys go out of your way to be dishonest with us," she replied.  
  
"What are you talking about?" he asked.  
  
"I'm talking about the shooting over a year ago!" Liz yelled before she could stop herself.  
  
After the words left her mouth, an uncomfortable silence fell upon the room. Max and Michael backed away from Liz and Maria and went to stand beside Alex and Kyle. Liz and Maria followed their actions and went to stand beside Isabel and Tess by the front door. On one side of the room were the girls and on the other side were the guys, and neither said a word. At that moment, the front door opened and Jim and Amy entered the restaurant.  
  
"What's going on?" Jim asked, seeing the tense looks on his sons' faces. Before anyone could reply, the Parkers, Evans, and Whitmans came in from the back door.  
  
"You guys were supposed to come open the back door for us," Nancy said to Jim and Amy. Not hearing a response, she looked up to see them looking the teenagers.  
  
"Is everything all right?" she asked.  
  
"How did you know about the shooting?" Michael asked, breaking the silence between the eight of them, and stepping in front of his brothers.  
  
"It was on the Internet, but that's not the point," Maria said, stepping in front of her sisters.  
  
"There is no point, the whole thing was a false alarm. Jeff ducked to the ground after hearing the shot and a ketchup-"  
  
"Yeah, a ketchup bottle fell on him, we heard that story," Maria said. "The thing is, we don't believe it."  
  
"What's there not to believe? A bottle spilled on him, it's as simple as that," Michael said.  
  
"Maria, I don't think this is the time for this, let's go," Amy said trying to drag Maria and girls away from the restaurant. Jim had already walked over to Michael and was trying to get him to back away also.  
  
"If it's so simple, why don't you explain the silver handprint that was found on his chest," Maria said, ignoring Amy's statement.  
  
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Michael said, surprised that the girls knew about the handprint.  
  
"Don't try to hide it, we read it on the Internet," Maria said.  
  
"Well you must have read it wrongly, because there was no handprint."  
  
"You're lying! We know that you four are aliens, so stop lying!" Maria yelled, irritated that Michael was still trying to lie to her. A silence fell upon the room before Michael finally spoke up again.  
  
"Who the hell are you guys?" Michael asked. The girls stayed silent, refusing to respond. "Get out!" he yelled.  
  
"Mich-"  
  
"GET OUT!" Michael yelled, raising his hand and shooting a beam of light at the girls and Amy. On instinct, Maria and Tess raised their hand and produced a purple shield around Isabel, Liz, Amy, and themselves.  
  
"Oh my God," Alex said in shock.  
  
"I know you're shocked, but if you would just let us explain-"  
  
"Explain what? Explain who the hell you are and why you're here?" Michael asked angrily.  
  
"I know you're angry, but we can explain," Maria said, trying to calm him down.  
  
"Who, or what, are you?" Kyle asked.  
  
"I believe I can answer that," a voice said from the front door. Everyone turned to the door at the sound of the voice to see a tall, well-built man standing there with a sadistic smile on his face.  
  
"What the hell are you doing here?" Maria asked angrily.  
  
"Do you even have to ask?" the man replied.  
  
"Who is he?" Max asked to anyone who would answer.  
  
"I'm the guy that's going to be responsible for the death of everyone in this room, but for now, you can just refer to me as Khivar."  
  
TBC  
  
Please leave feedback!!!! 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5  
  
"What the hell is a Khivar?" Kyle asked.  
  
"Not what, who," Khivar replied. "And I see that you four remember even less about your past lives than the girls do."  
  
"What's he talking about?" Michael asked Maria.  
  
"Allow me to explain," Khivar said in a smug voice. He walked over to the counter and took a seat on a booth.  
  
"My name is Khivar, and I'm the soon-to-be ruler of Antar. You see, fifty years ago, my army and I declared war on Antar. We fought hard and finally we were able to kill every member of the Royal Eight, in other words, you," he said pointing the teenagers. "According to Antarian laws, if someone manages to kill the presiding officer or officers of the planet, that person can become king or queen. Normally, only three or four royalties run the planet, but for some reason, everyone thought all eight of you were special, so you all ran the planet as a team, with two of you as King and Queen. Anyway, as hard as it was, I managed to kill all eight of you, but then your idiotic parents decided to reincarnate all of you and send you down to Earth. Therefore, I still didn't get my rightful position in the royal house since you eight brats are still alive. However, I was able to track down four of you, and I've been trying for to kill them for over ten years."  
  
"Is he telling the truth?" Max asked the girls.  
  
"I have no reason to lie, Zan," Khivar said referring to Max's Antarian name.  
  
"Get out, Khivar." Maria said.  
  
"You never shut up, do you Rayana?" Khivar asked. "I'll still never get over the joy I felt at finally killing you all those years ago."  
  
"It won't happen again," Maria said glaring at him.  
  
"We'll see about that," he replied. "I must thank you, girls. You led me right to the other members of the Royal Eight, this makes my job so much easier," he said looking at the guys.  
  
"You're not going to lay a hand on them," Liz said.  
  
"Who's going to stop me - you? Please Zara, sit down, you were the easiest to kill," Khivar said with a roll of his eyes.  
  
"We're not going to let you hurt any of us, so you can just end your little fairy tale right now," Isabel said stepping in front of Khivar in a 'no BS stance.'  
  
"Did I ever tell you how hot you look when you're mad?" Khivar taunted. "It's such a shame you're a Royal - you and I could have had so much fun."  
  
"I'd never associate with scum like you," Isabel said turning away from him.  
  
"What's the matter, Ava? You've been awfully quiet," Khivar said turning to Tess.  
  
"I hate your guts," Tess said with disgust.  
  
"You're not still mad about the way I killed you, are you? It wasn't that bad," he said with a smile.  
  
"You burned me alive!!" Tess yelled.  
  
"You burned her alive?!?!" Kyle yelled with anger.  
  
"I never really liked her," Khivar said, as though it was a simple excuse. "She and Rayana, Maria to you, always messed up my plans to kill you guys - they both got what they deserved."  
  
"We will kill you this time - you can count on that," Maria said staring at Khivar.  
  
"I wouldn't be so sure of that. You may have succeeded in your past life when you and Rath were the most powerful beings on the planet, but here, on Earth, you don't stand a chance. Rath has barely tapped into his powers, and the power you have, although strong, won't be enough to stop me. I will win again, Rayana," he said before getting up and walking toward the door.  
  
"Don't come back here," Liz said to him before producing fire from her hand and throwing it at Khivar. Khivar easily deflected it and sent a bolt of light to Liz, knocking her unto the floor and unconscious. Maria quickly produced a ball of light from her hands and threw it at Khivar, knocking him through the glass window and unto the pavement.  
  
"This isn't over," Khivar said before shimmering and disappearing instantly.  
  
"What the hell was that!?!" Alex yelled. Maria ignored him and went over to help Isabel and Tess who were trying to waken Liz.  
  
"Is she okay?" she asked.  
  
"I'm not sure, she's barely breathing," Tess replied in a calm voice.  
  
"Do something!" Max yelled. "She could die!"  
  
"Relax, Max," Maria said before putting her hand and Liz head and closing her eyes. A few seconds later she opened her eyes to see Liz already standing up and fixing her clothes.  
  
"Are you okay," Max asked worriedly.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine," Liz replied.  
  
"Good, now will someone please tell us what just happened?" Michael asked in a loud voice.  
  
"It's a long story," Maria replied.  
  
"Well we've got time, Blondie, so start explaining," he said.  
  
"Fine," Maria said with a huff. "And don't ever call me Blondie again," she said before taking a seat.  
  
"Well, as you've probably figured out, we're aliens. We were in the spaceship with you guys. We don't know how, but we somehow ended up hatching in some hidden cave in New York. When we hatched, Amy happened to be around the area and saw all four of us wondering around. She was able to adopt us and has been with us ever since. We have little memories of our life on Antar, our home planet, but we know that we were the rulers of the planet along with the four of you. Apparently, there was some war on Antar, and Khivar wanted us dead so that he could rule the planet. Unfortunately, we weren't as easy to defeat as he thought so he ended up killing many casualties in his quest to get us. That increased the violence and anger on between Antarians and Khivar and his followers. Somehow, Khivar succeeded in killing us, but our parents reincarnated us because we were their only chance at survival. Right now Antarians are basically waiting and hoping for us to somehow kill Khivar, because if he wins, it'll be the end of all of them and us."  
  
"So you've been running from Khivar since the day you hatched?" Michael asked.  
  
"Basically," Maria replied. "We thought we would be safe here, but obviously, we were wrong. Now we stupidly led him to you guys also."  
  
"Don't worry about it, we'll get through this," Alex said.  
  
"You don't know Khivar like we do," Isabel said. "He is ruthless and despicable. He will do anything to get rid of us - hell, he's nearly killed our mom countless times. If it weren't for our powers of healing, we'd all be dead by now."  
  
"Well, it'll be harder for him now that there are eight of us," Max said.  
  
"No it won't," Maria said. "No offence, but Khivar was right - you guys have barely tapped into your powers. The most you could probably do is blow up something, and that's only when you're in a bad mood. We have been harnessing our powers since we were hatched and we still haven't been able to defeat him."  
  
"Maria's right," Tess said. "All four of your powers put together wouldn't even amount to Maria's powers, and Khivar will use that to his advantage."  
  
"All you have to do is teach us how to tap into our powers," Kyle said.  
  
"There's not enough time for that. For all we know, Khivar could have already planted an explosive in the restaurant, ready to blowup at any second," Isabel said. The room became silent as the truth of her statement sunk in.  
  
"Don't worry, Khivar wouldn't kill us with a bomb," Maria said.  
  
"Good," Alex said with a breath of relief.  
  
"He'd torture us a little and then kill us with his bare hands," she added.  
  
"You're not easing my fear," Kyle said.  
  
"I know you're scared, but there is no time for this," Tess said. "We have to prepare for Khivar. His army is strong and determined. They're not afraid of death so empty threats won't scare them away. They are willing to fight till their last breath for Khivar and that could be enough to kill all eight of us, not to mention the adults."  
  
"Wait, they have nothing to do with this. What could he possibly want with them?" Max asked with worry.  
  
"Many things. He could use them as leverage to get us to turn ourselves in; he could kill them because they know our secret; hell, he could kill them for the twisted joy he gets out of inflicting pain on innocent people. Khivar doesn't need a reason," Liz said.  
  
"So you're basically telling us that we're going to die," Michael said.  
  
"No, we're telling you that if you don't start preparing now, you're going to die. We can take care of Khivar for a while so that you guys can improve your powers, but he's getting impatient and there's only so long before he finally succeeds in killing us," Maria replied.  
  
"Just hold on!" Diane yelled. "You can't just come here and tell us that our children have to basically put their life on hold to fight a war that could or will kill them."  
  
"They don't have a choice!" Maria exclaimed. "It is their job as a member of the Royal Eight."  
  
"You don't understand," Nancy said. "They have family and people who love and care about them."  
  
"And we don't?" Isabel asked, clearly offended. "Amy is the only family we've ever known and everyday we have to live with the fact she could die while trying to protect any one of us. We have had to make friends only to leave them less than a year later because we were running for our lives. How dare you stand there and make it seem like we chose to live this life!"  
  
"What do you want us to think?" Susan Whitman asked. "You obviously don't try hard to hide your powers, judging by the little show that we just saw. Not only that, but you seem a little too happy to start to fight this war with that man and our children."  
  
"What do you want us to do?!" Maria exclaimed. "We've been running from this man and his army all of our lives! You're damn right we're happy that we found the other four! We can finally end this thing and live the normal life that they've been living and taking for granted!"  
  
"You have no idea what this means to us," Tess said turning to Michael, Max, Kyle, and Alex. "None of you do. All four of you lived normal lives with happily married adopted parents. You didn't have to wake up everyday and pray that you'd live to see another day. And you," she said turning to the adults. "You guys didn't have worry that every time you saw your children, might be the last time. You have no right to stand there and accuse us of anything. You know nothing about us."  
  
"I know that you're leading my sons into their death, and I won't stand for it," Jim said.  
  
"Fine, go ahead and deny them their birth right," Liz said.  
  
"I don't think their birth right is death," Phillip said sarcastically.  
  
"We don't need this," Maria said. "If you guys don't want to help us, that's fine. We'll fight Khivar with or without your help. Let's go," she said heading toward the door.  
  
"Maria, wait!" Michael said finally speaking up.  
  
"Forget it, Michael," Maria said. "You said all you had to say when you stayed quiet while your family insulted us. We've survived eighteen years without your help - we can survive now. Goodbye," she said. And with that, she, Isabel, Tess, Liz, and Amy left the restaurant leaving a room full of remorseful people.  
  
TBC  
  
Please leave feedback!!! 


	6. Chapter 6

Sorry for the long wait, I just had no idea what to do with this chapter. I came really close to discontinuing the story, but then I realized how much I hate it when other people do that. Anyway, I wanted to let you guys know that I might be changing a lot of things on the story and it might not follow the challenge that I originally came up with. I still want to show the girls and their leadership in the war, but I think I might add and take away a few things from the challenge. I hope you guys will still like it!!!!  
  
Chapter 6  
  
A Week Later.  
  
"Maria, come on, you can't keep ignoring me," Michael whispered to Maria during their Physics class. It had been a week since their encounter with Khivar and Maria still hadn't said one word to him. None of the girls spoke to him or his brothers. Everyday since then, he had tried to talk to her at any given opportunity, but she would always ignore him and turn the other way. After getting yelled at by a few teachers, he resulted to passing notes during class. Maria would simply tear up the piece of paper before she even bothered to read it. However, Michael was on a mission to gain Maria's forgiveness and he wasn't about to quit anytime soon.  
  
"You're going to have to speak to me eventually. You said it yourself, you need our help," he said.  
  
"We don't need a damn thing from you," she said icily.  
  
"I knew you couldn't stay quiet for too much longer," Michael said with a smile. He quickly removed it when he saw the glare that Maria was giving him.  
  
"Don't talk to me, Michael," she said before turning back to the teacher.  
  
"Come on, Maria, how many times do I have to apologize for the way my brothers and I acted?"  
  
"I don't want your apologies, it's too late," Maria replied.  
  
"You're being unreasonable," he said with a roll of his eyes.  
  
"Excuse me?" she asked sharply.  
  
"What the hell did you expect us to do? If you just found out that four of your friends turned out to be aliens just like you and that you're on the hit list of some big alien leader, how the hell would you have reacted?"  
  
"I sure as hell wouldn't have stood there while you were insulted by complete strangers," she bit back.  
  
"I know, and I realize that we were wrong for not defending you, but I've trying to apologize for a week! What more do you want?" he asked, exasperated.  
  
"I want to know that we can trust and depend on you guys, all of you! The only way we're going to defeat Khivar is if we work together and trust each other. If you guys couldn't even defend us to your human family, how the hell are we supposed to believe that you'll defend us against Khivar and his army if it comes down to it?" she asked.  
  
"We will!" he insisted.  
  
"Just like you did at the Crashdown?" she asked. "You don't understand how important this is to me. My sisters and I, along with our mom, have been running from this man all our lives. We finally found the other four of us and we think that this whole thing with Khivar will end, only to find out that you want nothing to do with this. How do you expect me to act?" she asked.  
  
"I don't know!" he exclaimed a bit loudly, attracting the attention of the entire class.  
  
"Is there something you'd like to share with the class?" Mrs. Jackson asked.  
  
"No, not really," Michael replied, lowering his head.  
  
"Then please keep quiet," she said before turning back to the board.  
  
"You guys need to lower your voices before someone hears your conversation," Kyle whispered from behind Michael and Maria.  
  
"Shut up!" they said at the same time.  
  
"Geez, I was just trying to help," he said, raising in hand as though he were surrendering.  
  
"Well you're a little too late for that, Valenti," Tess muttered from her seat next to him.  
  
"So you finally decided to acknowledge my presence?" Kyle asked turning to Tess. Tess simply rolled her eyes and turned back to the teacher without responding.  
  
"See what I mean? We try to apologize and you girls give us the cold shoulder," Michael said pointing to Kyle and Tess.  
  
"Would you please just shut up!" Maria said, exasperated.  
  
"This coming from Ms. Chatterbox herself?" Michael asked with a smirk.  
  
"Shut up, Michael," Tess said.  
  
"Look, we're sorry. And if you girls don't forgive us now, then that's too bad because I for one refuse to continue apologizing to someone who won't even look at me," Michael said.  
  
"Is that your way of making us forgive you?" Maria asked with a raised eyebrow.  
  
"Is it working?" Kyle asked hopefully.  
  
"No," Tess said as the bell rang. She picked up her things and headed out the door with Isabel and Liz.  
  
"Maria, wait," Michael said, grabbing her hand before she could leave the classroom.  
  
"What do you want?" she asked, clearly annoyed.  
  
"Excluding what happened a week ago, I would always defend you. Over the last two months you have become one of my best friends and even if we weren't in this war together, I'd still protect you with my life. I don't want you to ever think I wouldn't," he said before letting her go. Maria stared at Michael in shock before slowly walking out of the room.  
  
"Did Michael Guerin just get emotional in a room filled with more than two people?" Alex asked, surprise evident in his voce.  
  
"If any of you even think of bringing this up again, I'll kill you," Michael said before walking out of the room.  
  
"There's the Michael we all know and love," Alex said as he, Kyle, and Max followed Michael out of the room.  
  
Later That Day.  
  
Maria and Tess walked into the crowded Crashdown a few hours after school and took a seat on the stools by the counter. Kyle was the first one to notice them so he made his way over to them.  
  
"Are you here to eat or just glare at us for an hour?" he asked.  
  
"Neither," Tess replied. "We're here to apologize for the way we've been treating you guys for the past week."  
  
"Really?" Kyle asked, surprised.  
  
"Yeah," Maria said, smile at his shocked expression. "We acted like complete bitches and although you guys deserved it, it was still childish. We have more important things to worry about than these trivial arguments."  
  
"Wow," Kyle said, still surprised. "Well, you're forgiven," he said, quickly regaining his composure and look of nonchalant. Maria and Tess exchanged a smile at Kyle's behavior.  
  
"Well, look who decided to grace us with their presence," Alex said walking over to them.  
  
"We're sorry," Maria and Tess said at the same time before going over to hug Alex. Out of all the guys, they knew Alex would be the easiest to apologize to; it was almost too hard for them to stay mad at him.  
  
"Don't even worry about it. I knew it would only be a matter of time before you realized you couldn't resist the wonder that is Alex Whitman," he said smugly.  
  
"Yeah right," Max said, rolling his eyes as he walked over to them with Michael by his side.  
  
"Does that apology go for all of us?" he asked hopefully.  
  
"Yeah," Tess said. "Even though it was your adopted mother that started all of it," she added.  
  
"Tess," Maria said in a warning tone.  
  
"I know, I know," she said with a sigh. "I'm sorry Max, for the way we've been acting and the comment I made," she said.  
  
"Don't worry about it," he said with a smile.  
  
"Where's my personal apology?" Michael asked with a pout.  
  
"You don't get one," Maria said.  
  
"Why not?" he asked.  
  
"Because, aside from what happened last week, you've done nothing but piss me off," she said.  
  
"You make it too easy," he replied with a smile.  
  
"That's exactly why you get no apology from me," she said turning away from him.  
  
"Oh, just go ahead and say sorry, Blondie. You know you want to," he said, getting in front of her face.  
  
"No, I don't. Now, leave me alone."  
  
"Yeah you do," Michael said looking Maria in the eyes. Maria couldn't help but notice how easy it was to get lost in his eyes. Michael was thinking the same exact thing. They continued to stare at each other and ignore the people around them for a few more seconds. Finally, Kyle spoke up, interrupting them.  
  
"What the hell is wrong with you two?" he asked.  
  
"Nothing!" Maria said, startled out of her Michael reverie.  
  
"Um, sure," Alex said sarcastically. "Anyway, where are Isabel and Liz?" he asked.  
  
"I'm not sure," Tess said looking at her watch. "They were supposed to meet us here so that they could apologize also, but they're not here."  
  
"When was the last time you talked to either one of them?" Maria asked with worry in her voice.  
  
"I talked to Liz about an hour ago, and I haven't seen Isabel since school ended," Tess replied. "Do you think that Khivar went after them?" she asked with fear in her eyes.  
  
"Let's just try and remain calm until we're certain," Maria said.  
  
"Calm? They could be dead right now!" Alex said in a loud whisper.  
  
"Calm down, there's no way Isabel or Liz would go down without a fight," Maria said, not fully convinced that they were safe.  
  
"Maria! Tess!" Liz yelled running into the Crashdown. She immediately slowed down and started to walk when she noticed the looks she was getting from the other customers.  
  
"What's wrong?" Maria asked immediately, already knowing that something happened from the look in Liz's eyes.  
  
"Isabel. She called me on my cell and told me that a few Skins were following her. She told me that she was going to drive to an empty road and kill them, but right before we hung up she told me that she saw another group of them. Before I could say anything, I heard her scream and we got disconnected," Liz said all in one breath.  
  
"Oh my God, Izzy!" Tess said.  
  
"Did she say what roadway she was heading to?" Maria asked as she headed toward the door.  
  
"I think she said something like Stratford," Liz said as she and Tess followed Maria. "I don't even know where that is."  
  
"None of us do," Tess said. "Even if we did, we still have no way of getting there. Isabel has the car." Maria cursed under her breath after Tess's statement.  
  
"So basically, we're screwed," she said. "Damn Khivar!" she yelled.  
  
"We could help," Max said as he walked out of the restaurant with Michael, Alex, and Kyle.  
  
"How?" Maria asked.  
  
"Well, we know where Stratford is, and we have two cars - mine and Michael's jeeps," he replied.  
  
"I don't know," Maria said warily.  
  
"Ria, we don't have a choice. Isabel could be a lot of danger," Tess said.  
  
"Fine," Maria said hesitantly. "But you guys can't get in our way. We're used to fighting Skins, you aren't and we can't worry about Isabel, Skins, and all four of you at the same time."  
  
"Fine, you won't even know we're there," Max said.  
  
"All right," Maria said with a sigh. "Where are your cars?" she asked. Michael and Max led them to their jeeps.  
  
"All right, Kyle, Tess, and Maria can ride with me while Liz and Alex ride with Max," Michael said as he got in the car. Maria got into the passenger seat next to him as Tess and Kyle entered the back seat. Once everyone was situated they pulled unto the road and headed off in search of Isabel.  
  
"Why are you so worried," Michael asked Maria after they had been driving for twenty minutes.  
  
"Umm, hello! My sister could be dying, and you ask me why I'm worried?" Maria asked.  
  
"But according to you, all of you are used to Khivar and his surprise attacks. But you, Liz, and Tess look way too nervous about something that you're supposedly used to dealing with," Michael said, as he glimpsed at Maria briefly.  
  
"We're always this worried," Maria said turning her head to the window.  
  
"You're keeping something from us. I know you Ria, and you would never get this worked up over something that you consider a daily ritual. Not only that, but I also know that Isabel would never let allow herself to be captured or killed, and I know that you know that too. So what are you guys really worried about?" he asked.  
  
"He's right, there's more to this story than what you're telling us," Kyle said from his seat.  
  
"What's really going on?" Michael asked.  
  
"It's a trap," Maria finally said.  
  
"What?" Kyle panicked voice asked.  
  
"Khivar never attacks us alone. He's always attacked us when there were at least two of us together; he called it his "two-by-two" policy. He said that it made his job easier to go after two of us as the same time than to go after one of us, one at a time. The fact that he went after Isabel while she was alone shows that it's a trap. He knew that Isabel would probably forget about his two-by-two policy out of fear and end up calling us. And he knows us well enough to know that even if we figured out that it was a trap, we'd still come because of our love for Isabel."  
  
"So you're telling me that you're leading us to our deaths?" Michael asked.  
  
"It may be possible. Or Khivar could just be leading us to him for another reason, such as the Granolith," she said.  
  
"Wha- What?" Kyle asked suddenly. "How do you know about the Granolith?" he asked.  
  
"We don't. Khivar's been mentioning it to us since day one. He thinks we're hiding it from him, but we honestly have no idea where the hell it is," Maria replied taking her eyes away from the window to look into the worried eyes of Michael and Kyle. "Do you guys know where the Granolith is?" she asked. Kyle and Michael stayed quiet for a few seconds, each deep in thought.  
  
"Yeah, we do. It's hidden in the cave that we hatched from," Michael said.  
  
"Really?" Maria asked with shock. "What the hell is so important about it that has Khivar going crazy?" she asked.  
  
"We have no idea," Kyle said. "We only recently discovered it and we haven't been able to figure out its' use yet. The only thing we know is that it's powerful and that's only because Michael always gets a strong feeling whenever he's around it. So we protect it."  
  
"This is ridiculous!" Tess yelled. "Isabel is out there somewhere being used as bait so that Khivar can get some stupid machine that we know nothing about, but are supposed to protect with our lives!"  
  
"Well, Khivar's not going to get Isabel or the Granolith, we'll make sure of that," Maria said steely.  
  
"You're damn right we will," Michael said with a hard stare and he focused his attention back on the road.  
  
TBC  
  
Please leave feedback!!!! 


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7  
  
"There's the Jetta!" Maria yelled as she spotted their car. Before Michael had even stopped the car, she and Tess were already out of it with Liz not too far behind them.  
  
"Where is she?" Liz asked as she searched the empty car.  
  
"Right here," a voice said from behind. Everyone quickly turned around to find Isabel in the arms of Khivar. He face was bloody and her clothes were ripped in various places. Her skin was covered with bruises and she was barely keeping her eyes open.  
  
"What the hell did you do to her?" Alex asked, horrified by the sight of his beautiful friend.  
  
"I just gave her a little makeover, she was being a little complicated," Khivar replied with a smirk.  
  
"I'll kill you for this, you bastard," Maria said as she advanced toward Khivar.  
  
"I'd stop right there, Rayana," Khivar said. "After all, you don't really have much of a chance against my army," he said as dozens and dozens of Skins appeared around them.  
  
"Shit," Kyle muttered as he saw the Skins surround him.  
  
"What the hell do we do now?" Alex asked quietly.  
  
"Running sounds good," Kyle replied.  
  
"We're not going anywhere without Isabel," Tess said as she stepped up beside Maria and glared at Khivar.  
  
"You're not going anywhere, period," Khivar replied. "Get them!" he yelled. Before anyone had a chance to react, Skins were attacking the pod squad.  
  
Maria immediately blasted two Skins that attacked her. She turned to her left and saw that Liz and Tess were doing fine with the Skins around them. Turning to her left, she saw that the guys were not doing as well. They were throwing a few punches, but they didn't seem like they were about to use their powers anytime soon.  
  
"A little help here, please," Alex said as he tried to block the punches thrown his way by a Skin.  
  
"Just try to hold him off for a few seconds," Maria yelled as she headed for Khivar.  
  
"I'd stay back if I were you," Khivar said, backing away with Isabel still in his arms.  
  
"Well you're not me," Maria replied as she continued to advance toward him. She raised her hand and prepared to throw an energy bolt at him. However, before she could aim it at him, Khivar threw Isabel at her, knocking them both to the ground.  
  
"We'll meet again, Rayana," Khivar said as he diminished before her.  
  
Maria rolled Isabel off of her and quickly went to work on trying to heal her. She immediately made a connection and within seconds, Isabel's eyes were fluttering open.  
  
"What happened?" she asked groggily.  
  
"Khivar captured and tortured you," Maria replied simply as though it were a normal occurrence.  
  
"As long as it was nothing serious," Isabel replied sarcastically as she and Maria got up.  
  
"Are you able to fight? We've got a few Skins to take care of," Maria said.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine," Isabel replied, already heading over to the Skins that had surrounds the boys.  
  
Joining Alex, Isabel quickly got rid of the two Skins that were attacking him. Maria joined her and destroyed five Skins in less than a minute. Turning to Michael, she saw that he was having trouble with one of them.  
  
"Blow him up!" she yelled.  
  
"I don't know how to control my powers like that!" he yelled back. Maria let out an exasperated breath and raised her hand. Within a second, the Skin was nothing but ashes.  
  
"How about helping us!" Kyle yelled as he and Max tried to protect themselves against five Skins.  
  
Liz and Tess quickly made their way over to them. Liz kicked one of them in the back, quickly turning him to dust. Tess, meanwhile, used her powers to kill the three around her. Seeing that one of them was about to escape, Liz raised her hand and turned the female Skin into fire, burning her alive.  
  
"Wow," Kyle said once every skin was dust.  
  
"Tell me about it. Do you guys honestly go through this everyday?" Max asked.  
  
"Yeah, but that's life," Tess said with a shrug. "Are you okay?" she asked turning to Isabel.  
  
"Yeah I'm fine. Khivar tortured me so much that I barely remember what happened," Isabel replied.  
  
"That's a good thing, right?" Alex asked.  
  
"Yeah, I guess. But if I remembered, we might have known where Khivar took me, that way we could have investigated it," she replied.  
  
"That doesn't matter - you do," Maria said. "We'll get Khivar eventually."  
  
"We better," Tess replied. "That asshole is becoming a thorn in my side." Kyle and Alex laughed at Tess's comment.  
  
"You girls are really advanced in your powers," Michael commented.  
  
"Well we've been practicing them for years," Liz replied.  
  
"If we were to get attacked again, the four of us would be almost completely useless to you girls," Michael said, referring to him and his brothers.  
  
"That's understandable, considering that you barely use your powers for fighting," Isabel responded.  
  
"No it's not," Michael said. "We're supposed to work as a team and instead, the four of you are fighting your asses off and blowing up everything in sight, while we barely defend ourselves against one Skin," he said, angry by his lack of experience in his powers.  
  
"Relax, Michael. We'll help all of you with your powers as soon as you want to," Maria said.  
  
"Good, let's start now," Michael said as he headed toward his jeep.  
  
"Where the hell are you going?" Kyle asked as he and the others followed him.  
  
"To the desert. We're going to start practicing our powers today. And while we're there, we'll show the girls the Granolith," he replied as he started the car and waited for everyone.  
  
"You told them about the Granolith?"  
  
"They know where the Granolith is?" Max and Isabel asked at the same time. They shared a small laugh before waiting for a reply.  
  
"It's a long story," Maria replied. "Isabel, you and Alex can drive with Michael and I so we can fill you in and Kyle and Tess can ride with Max and Liz to fill them in," she said as she climbed into the passenger seat next to Michael. She and Michael looked at the window to see that nobody was moving.  
  
"Now!" they yelled at the same time. Quickly, everyone piled into their assigned seats and headed toward the desert.  
  
Twenty minutes later the arrived at the desert with everyone informed of the latest developments.  
  
"Is it always this deserted?" Maria asked as surveyed the empty desert.  
  
"It's a desert - what the hell do you expect Blondie?" Michael asked sarcastically.  
  
"Who needs the lessons here?" Maria asked smugly. Michael stayed silent. "That's what I thought," she said.  
  
"Whatever," Michael replied with a roll of his eyes.  
  
"Love the vocabulary, Michael," Alex teased.  
  
"Shut up," he replied.  
  
"How about you both shut up so that we can see the Granolith," Isabel said in an annoyed voice.  
  
"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," Kyle muttered quietly to himself.  
  
"Actually, I woke up after being tortured to the point of unconsciousness," Isabel said while glaring at Kyle.  
  
"Okay, let's go to the Granolith," Max said hastily trying to rescue his brother from Isabel's icy glare. He quickly started to climb the rocks, dragging Kyle with him.  
  
"Where is it?" Maria asked.  
  
"It's up there in that big boulder," Michael replied, pointing to the large rock.  
  
"And you expect me to climb all the way up there?" she asked. Michael nodded his head. "Sorry not going to happen," she said shaking her head.  
  
"Are you kidding me? You can fight four of five Skins at a time and talk almost anyone to death, but you can't climb a few rocks?" Michael asked in wonder.  
  
"First of all, this is more than 'just a few rocks' - it's a freaking mountain. Secondly, I don't appreciate your chatterbox insults," she replied. "And thirdly, who the hell - hey!" she exclaimed as Michael lifted her into his arms and threw her over his shoulder.  
  
"Put me down!" she exclaimed. Michael simply ignored her and continued to climb up the rocks, leaving the others to follow him.  
  
"Damn you Michael! You'll pay for this!" she yelled as she started to pound his back with her fists.  
  
"I'm trembling with fear," Michael said sarcastically.  
  
"You should be," Maria replied.  
  
"Should he?" Max asked Liz from behind Michael and Maria.  
  
"Yeah. Maria hates when guys think they can overpower or take control of her," Liz replied. "She'll definitely get Michael back for carrying her like some piece of meat."  
  
"I sure as hell wouldn't want to be him right now," he replied with a laugh.  
  
When they reached the top of the rocks, Michael set Maria down on her feet. Before he could even react, Maria had raised her hands up and punched Michael square in the jaw.  
  
"OW!" Michael exclaimed. "What the hell was that for!?!" he yelled angrily.  
  
"That was for thinking you could just haul me over your shoulder like some piece of garbage," Maria responded, just as angry.  
  
"I got you up here didn't I?" he asked as he rubbed his jaw.  
  
"That's not the point," Maria replied.  
  
"No the point is that you may have broken my jaw," he said angrily.  
  
"You'll survive," Maria said dismissively as she turned to the huge boulder in front of her.  
  
"Come here, Michael," Max said as he advanced toward Michael to heal his jaw. He quickly made a connection and fixed the jaw.  
  
"See, all better," Maria said with a smirk.  
  
"You are one of the most infuriating girls I have ever met," he said getting in her face.  
  
"Well you aren't exactly Prince Charming yourself," Maria replied, staring Michael in the eyes.  
  
"Children please!" Isabel exclaimed. "Can you two please save your weird form of flirting for another time? We have more important things to worry about right now," she said. Alex, Kyle, and Max snickered at the embarrassed look that came across Michael's face when Isabel mentioned flirting. Liz and Tess soon joined in when they saw Maria's face turn red. Even Isabel couldn't resist laughing at the expressions on their faces. Pretty soon, all six of them were laughing at the uncomfortable looks on Michael and Maria's faces.  
  
"Would you guys shut up," Michael said.  
  
"Yeah, it wasn't that funny," Maria added, still embarrassed.  
  
"They're right," Tess said, a few second later, being the first to calm down. Within a minute or two, everyone had finally stopped laughing.  
  
"Are you idiots done now?" Maria asked.  
  
"Aww, you know we love you Ria," Isabel said with a smile.  
  
"Whatever," she replied. "Anyway, how do we get in this thing? Is there like a secret button to press?" she asked Michael as she began to touch the boulder.  
  
"Well actually," Kyle started only to cut himself off when he saw a silver handprint appear under Maria's hand and the boulder split open to allow them in the cave.  
  
"How did you do that?" he asked in surprise.  
  
"Do what?" Maria asked.  
  
"Open the rock," Alex cut in. "Nobody besides Michael had been able to open it."  
  
"I don't know. I was just looking for a button and I just waved my hand all over the rock and next thing I know, the rock opens," Maria responded.  
  
"Alex, Max, and I have been trying to open this thing since for as long as we can remember, and we've been unsuccessful. How the hell did you do it?" Kyle asked.  
  
"I don't know. Maybe it's because my powers are more advanced than yours," she suggested.  
  
"That's probably it," Tess said. "Since my powers are almost as powerful as Maria's, maybe I can open it too," she said as she walked in front of the boulder that had just closed. She raised her hand and waited, but nothing happened.  
  
"Why didn't it work?" she asked herself.  
  
"I don't know. Let me try," Isabel said. She waved her hand over the rock and also got no reaction. Liz also tried and received the same results.  
  
"So only Michael and Maria have the power to open it," Max stated. "What do you think that means?" he asked.  
  
"I don't know, but I'm sure you'll figure it out Sherlock," Michael said sarcastically as he noticed Max already trying to come up with logical explanations. He waved his hand over the boulder and walked in, with everyone trailing behind him.  
  
"So this is where you were hatched?" Liz asked as she observed the cave.  
  
"Yeah, our pods are right there," Max replied pointing to the pods.  
  
"It's a lot nicer than the crappy cave that we were hatched in," Tess said.  
  
"Tell me about it," Isabel agreed.  
  
"So where's the Granolith?" Maria asked.  
  
"Back here," Michael said as he started to climb through one of the pods. Maria climbed in after him followed by Alex, Isabel, Liz, Max, Tess, and Kyle.  
  
"Wow," Maria gasped as she observed the huge statue in front of her.  
  
"It's amazing," Liz said in awe.  
  
"Yeah, it'd be better if we knew what to do with it," Kyle said.  
  
"I bet it would," Maria said as she touched the Granolith.  
  
"Every time I touch it, I just get a strong feeling that I can't explain, but a part of me knows that it's supposed to mean something to me," Michael said as he walked around the Granolith. When he came to Maria's side, he placed his hand next to hers on the Granolith. Instantly, a connection was formed.  
  
*Flashback*  
  
"Rath, I'm worried," a young girl, who looked exactly like Maria, said.  
  
"Rayana, we're going to be fine," Rath, who looked a lot like Michael, replied.  
  
"You can't guarantee that. Khivar is getting angrier and he has killed over fifteen civilians in just the past two days!" Rayana exclaimed.  
  
"I'm aware of that Rai," Rath replied.  
  
"Well, what are we going to do? Khivar won't stop until her gets the Granolith in his possession."  
  
"We're going to fight to our dying breath. If Khivar gets his hand on the Granolith, not only will it kill our planet and us, it will destroy every other planet in the world. We can't and won't let that happen," Rath replied.  
  
"I don't want to lose you, or our family and friends," Rayana said.  
  
"Neither do I, but some things are worth dying for. And the Granolith is one of them," Rath said.  
  
"You're right," Rayana said, ending the conversation as she reached up to kiss Rath.  
  
They were in a war and that meant living through casualties and pain. There were no questions of who lived or died. No questions of who would runaway or who would stay and fight. The Granolith was on the line and its protection came before anyone else's.  
  
*End Flashback*  
  
Michael and Maria quickly pulled back from the Granolith after their shared flashback.  
  
"What the hell happened to you guys? We've been calling you for almost five minutes," Tess said, worried about them.  
  
"We had a flashback," Maria said, still dazed from what she had experienced.  
  
"Really? What did you see?" Isabel asked.  
  
"Michael and I, in our past lives. We were talking about the Granolith," Maria responded.  
  
"What did you find out about it?" Alex asked.  
  
"We have to protect it," Michael said.  
  
"We already knew that," Kyle asked.  
  
"No, we really have to protect, as in with out lives. If Khivar gets it, he could seriously destroy not only Antar, but Earth and any other planets that exist," Michael said seriously.  
  
"So one man alone could destroy the world if this thing gets in his possession?" Max asked.  
  
"Basically. I'm not sure what it does, but I know that in the flashback, I had this strong feeling for it, as though I would give my life for it," Maria replied.  
  
"If we didn't know what we were fighting for then, we sure as hell do now," Michael said. "From this moment on, nothing and no one comes before the Granolith in a time of crisis," he said in a serious tone.  
  
"Tess, Liz, Isabel, you know I love you guys with everything inside of me, and Kyle, Max, Alex, you guys have become good friends to me. And I'm sure Michael feels the same way. But if for any chance you were in a position where you had to choose between saving your life or the saving the Granolith, you don't hesitate to choose the Granolith. Okay?" she asked as she looked at everyone spread around the Granolith.  
  
Everyone looked at Michael and Maria and could see how serious they were. What bothered them the most was behind their seriousness, you could almost detect a level of fear in them. Whatever it was that they were getting into, it was becoming obvious that their lives would never be the same after it. They were about to enter a war with Khivar and they weren't going to stop until either he or they were dead.  
  
TBC..  
  
Please leave feedback!!!!! 


	8. Chapter 8

I know it's been a while since I've updated, and I'm really sorry.    Anyway, I want to thank everyone for the feedback, you guys are the best!!!  Here's the next part, I hope you like it!!!!

Chapter 8

The Next Day…

Maria stumbled into the living room, barely keeping her eyes open.  She looked at the clock on the stand and saw that it was only 7 o'clock.  She heard the doorbell ring for the fourth time.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," she mumbled angrily.  Reaching the door, she roughly pulled it open, ready to yell at the person who had interrupted her sleep.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she asked.  Standing in front of her door were Michael, Max, Kyle, and Alex, who looked too awake for Maria's liking.

"We came over so that you ladies could help us with our powers," Alex said, slightly frightened by the murderous expression on Maria's face.

"It's 7 o'clock," she said.

"We know," Kyle said.

"And it's Saturday morning," she continued.

"Yeah, we know," Kyle replied again.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" she exclaimed.  "Who the hell wakes up at 7 o'clock on a Saturday?!"

"Apparently not you," Michael muttered.

"Shut up spaceboy," Maria snapped.

"Spaceboy?" Michael asked, smirking at Maria's new nickname for him.

"Yes, you're a boy and you're from outer space, hence the name, spaceboy," she explained.

"But, wouldn't that make you spacegirl?" Michael asked with a smirk.

"What do you say you two finish this conversation after you let us in?" Max asked, cutting in.

"Fine, come in," she said letting them in.  "I'll go wake up my sisters and tell them to get ready.  You guys can just make yourself comfortable."

"Thanks," Max said.

"Oh, and for future reference, don't ever wake me up at 7 o'clock on a Saturday morning, okay?" she said in a warning tone.

"Yeah, got it," Alex replied quickly.

"Good, we'll be down in about an hour," she said heading to the staircase.

"Hi, honey, you're up early," Amy said cheerfully as she came down the stairs.

"Yeah, whatever," Maria mumbled as she continued to make her way upstairs.  Amy laughed at Maria before continuing downstairs.  She walked into the living room and was surprised to see the guys sitting there.

"What are you boys doing here?" she asked them.

"The girls promised to help us with our powers," Michael explained.

"Oh, I bet Maria bit your heads off for waking her up, didn't she?" Amy asked with a smile.

"Well, she wasn't happy," Alex said.

"If you think she's bad, you should see Isabel.  Whenever someone tries to wake her up, they usually get thrown against the wall a couple of times," she said, laughing at the shocked expressions on the guys' faces.

"You're joking, right?" Kyle asked nervously.  As soon as Kyle finished asking his question, they heard Maria's scream, followed by a loud thump from upstairs.

"No, but don't worry, she never causes any permanent damage," she said.  "How would you guys like some breakfast?" Amy asked, as though the commotion upstairs were a normal occurrence.

"Uh, yeah, sure," Michael replied, slightly uncomfortably.  

"All right, follow me into the kitchen," she said as she turned and walked away.

"What the hell are we getting in to?" Kyle asked to no one in particular.

"I have no idea," Alex said as they got up and followed Amy into the kitchen. 

About an hour later, the girls finally made their way downstairs and into the living room, where Amy was watching T.V. with the boys.

"You finally made it.  I was about to come up and drag you girls downstairs," Amy said.

"Whatever, let's hurry up and get this over with," Isabel said with a roll of her eyes.

"Looks like Sleeping Beauty didn't get enough sleep," Alex whispered to Kyle. 

"What was that, Whitman?" Isabel asked icily.

"Noth- Nothing," Alex stuttered under Isabel's cold glare.

"Good, keep it that way," she replied.

"All right, let's head over to the desert and get started," Liz said.

"Sounds good," Max said.

"We'll see you later, Mom," Liz said as they walked to the door.

"All right, don't stay out there too late.  I'm not familiar with this town yet and I'd prefer if you weren't there too late at night," Amy said.

"Don't worry, Ms. Deluca, We have to work later tonight at the Crashdown, so we'll be back around six," Michael explained.

"Okay, then.  Have a good time!" she said.  "And girls, go easy on them, they're beginners," she said.

"We'll try," Tess said as they left the house and got into the two cars.

Twenty minutes later, they arrived at the desert and piled out of the cars.  They walked further into the desert, wanting to ensure their privacy.

"Now, you're sure no one will see us?" Isabel asked.

"Yeah, no one ever comes to this desert," Alex replied.

"All right then, let's get started.  Why don't you guys tell us what you can do," Tess said.

"We can do simple things like changing the molecular structure of something or opening locked doors," Max said.

"Yeah, but those are basic things.  Every Antarian has those powers.  However, each one of us is supposed to have one power that no one else has," Tess said.  

"What do you mean?" Kyle asked.

"There are certain powers that all four of us have.  But then there is a power that only one of us have," Isabel explained.  "Only I have the power to dreamwalk, which is basically being able to jump into someone's dream and see what's going on in the subconscious."

"Really?  You can actually do that?" Kyle asked in amazement.

"Yeah, but that's not the point," she replied.

"Well, what about the rest of you.  What can you do?" Michael asked

"I have the power to produce fire whenever I want," Liz said.  

"What do you mean by that?" Max asked.

"I can do something as simple as putting my hand on a stove and lighting it up, or putting my hand on someone's chest and burning their heart.  I can basically burn somebody alive with a simple touch," she explained.

"Wow, I'll be sure to keep that in mind," Max said nervously.

"What about you Tess?" Alex asked.

"I can mindwarp people.  And before you ask, a mindwarp is when you make a person see something that isn't really happening.  It's basically like an illusion," she explained.

"Interesting.  So if you wanted, you could actually make me believe that I were standing right in front of Britney Spears right now?" Kyle asked.

"Yes, if I wanted to, but I don't, so say goodbye to that fantasy," Tess said with a smile.  Everyone laughed at the deflated expression on Kyle's face. 

"Well, what about you Blondie, what's your special power?" Michael asked.

"My power is basically just an advanced version of healing," Maria said.  "You know how you can heal someone if they're on the brink of dying or have been dead for less than a minute?  Well I can basically bring someone back to life at any given time."

"So, you could bring someone back to life after they've been dead for years?" Alex asked with shock.

"Yeah, but it takes a lot out of me.  And the longer the person has been dead, the more energy it takes.  It can literally knock me unconscious or kill me," she explained.

"Ouch, so I'm guessing you don't use that power often," Michael said.

"No, I haven't had to ever use it.  It's almost a useless power, because even if it came to a point where I had to use it, I would probably kill myself from all the energy I'd be giving away.  I think that's why my other powers are the strongest, because my private power is usually inactive."

"That would explain a lot," Max said thoughtfully.  "Is there any other power that restricted to you only?" he asked Maria.

"Not that I know of.  I can blow small things up, but that's only when I'm mad.  I can't really do it on command," she said.

"Well Michael can blow things up, and he's the only one of that can do that.  But he can only do that when he's upset also."

"Maybe that is his unique power, and if he practices, maybe he'll be able to blow up larger objects or buildings; but if that's true, then I don't get why the rest of you don't have unique powers," Tess said.

"What I don't get is how you guys don't know what your unique powers are.  Even if you are un-advanced, those powers should be a part of you.  You should be able to use them as easily as opening a door," Maria said.  "Think hard, besides Michael, are you sure there aren't any powers that only one of you have?" she asked.

"No, not unless you call being extra smart a power," Kyle said.

"What are you talking about?" Isabel asked.

"Alex is extremely smart – and by smart, I don't mean getting straight A's in class, I mean he is seriously smart.  Since we were just six years old he's been able to decode anything, without even having a key of what each symbol stands for," Kyle said.

"Interesting, and none of you considered the fact that this was not normal and was actually a special power?" Isabel asked, looking at them as though they were idiots.

"Well, we just kinda thought he was just smarter than us," Kyle said, realizing how stupid he sounded.

"News flash, Kyle, it's not humanly possible to be able to be that smart at six years old," Isabel said with a roll of her eyes.

"Well, we're not human; we just thought that his intelligence was normal for Antarians," Max said sheepishly.

"But then, wouldn't that have led you to question why the three of you weren't capable of decoding symbols like Alex?" Liz asked.

"You'd think it would, wouldn't you?" Alex said, realizing how dumb they were.  He couldn't help but laugh at crazy reasoning that they had believed years.  

"You guys really do need our help," Isabel said sarcastically.

"I'm going to ignore that last statement, and simply enjoy the fact that I have my own unique power.  How cool is that!" Alex exclaimed.

"How come he and Michael have their own powers?  What about us?" Kyle asked, feeling left out.

"I'm not sure, but we'll figure that out later.  We have to start practicing, we already wasted enough time," Liz said.

"Yeah, Liz is right.  I think it'll be better if we split up into groups of two's and practiced.  That way each of us will only have to worry about one person," Isabel said, looking at her sisters.

"Sounds good to me," Tess said.  "I'll take Kyle," she said.

"Oh, really?" Kyle said with a smug smile.  

"Don't get cocky.  I picked you because I think I'll have fun watching you make a fool of yourself," she said with a smile.

"Whatever," Kyle replied.

"All right, let's go Valenti," Tess said, dragging him to a secluded part in the desert.

"Come on Max, I'll be your partner," Liz said walking to him.

"Works for me," Max said as he and Liz walked away.

Isabel looked between Alex and Michael, trying to decide whom she would pick.  She noticed Michael looking at Maria, and automatically knew that picking Michael would just be an annoying experience for both her and Michael.

"All right, Alex, I'll donate a few hours of my day to you," she said taking his hand in hers.

"Wow, I feel so lucky," he said sarcastically.

"Well, you should," Isabel replied, ignoring the sarcasm in his voice.  "Now, let's go," she said, dragging him away.

"Looks like it's just you and me Blondie," Michael said.

"I guess so, spaceboy.  Let's get started," she said with a smile.

"What do you want to do first?" he asked.

"Well since you can blow things up when you're mad, we're going to try and see if you can do it even when you're the happiest person in the whole freaking world," she said.

"But, if you don't know how to blow things up, unless you're mad, how are you going to teach me?" he asked confused.

"I don't need to necessarily have the power, I just need to know how to tap into it.  And I know how to get control over powers," she explained.

"Then why can't you control this one?" he asked.

"I think it's because I'm not really supposed to have it.  My sisters don't have it, and it's most likely your unique power, so my guess is that I received it accidentally.  I don't think I'm supposed to have control of it, because if I did, it would no longer be _your_ personal power," she explained.

"That makes sense," he said.

"Of course it does, I thought of it," she replied.

"That's what surprises me," Michael said with a smile.  

"Shut up, dorkbutt," Maria said as he smacked the back of his head.

"Cheeshead," he muttered.

"Do you want my help or not?" she asked.

"That depends on whether or not you'll be doing any talking," he said with a smile.

"Do you always have to be so infuriating?" she asked.

"Blondie, you've known me for two months, you should know the answer to that by now," he replied with a smirk.  Maria rolled her eyes at his response.

"Anyway, back to your powers.  I want you to try to blow up those group of rocks," she said pointing to rocks that were at least 30 feet away.

"It's too far away, even if I were pissed, I wouldn't be able to blow up something that far away," he said.

"Let say we were fighting a battle right now, and Khivar was standing right where those rocks are.  Now are you telling me that you would stand by and watch him kill all of us around you because he was too far for you to try to blow up?" she asked.

"Of course not, I'd obviously try my best to try to stop him," he said.

"Good, then try your best to blow up those rocks," she said.

"How do I start?" he asked, giving in and turning to the rocks.

"Just concentrate.  You should feel the energy flowing through your body, now focus it on the rocks.  Imagine the rocks blowing up right now."

"It's not working," Michael said.

"Well, then imagine the rocks are something or someone you really hate and would like to hurt," she said.  

Michael turned back to the rocks and tried to concentrate.  He closed his eyes and imagined that the rocks were Khivar standing right there with a smug smile on his face.  He opened his eyes to see the rocks still standing there, almost laughing at his failure.

"It still didn't work," he said exasperatingly.

"Try harder," Maria urged.

"Maria, I can't-"

"Can't isn't a word in my vocabulary," she interrupted steadily.  "You're in a war and whatever it is you think you can't do, you force yourself to do.  Now blow up the damn rocks," she said in a voice that left no room for argument.

Michael looked at Maria and could tell that she wasn't going to stop until he blew up the rocks.  He turned back to them and raised his hand, putting all his concentration into it.

"Come on, you can do it.  I know you can," Maria encouraged.  

Michael felt energy flow through his body.  He centered it on the rocks in front of him and within seconds, the rocks were nothing but dust.

"Oh my God, you did it Michael!" Maria exclaimed.

"I did?" Michael asked with surprise.

"Yeah!  See I knew you could do it if you believed hard enough!" she said reaching up and pulling him into a hug.  Michael instinctively wrapped his arms around Maria's waist, pulling her closer to him.

"I only believed I could do it because you believed I could," he said.

"Well, I'm glad I could help," she said with a smile, pulling back slightly, but not out of Michael's arms.  She stared into his eyes and ran one of her hands through his hair.

"I love your eyes," Michael said, getting lost in Maria's emerald eyes.  He leaned down, preparing to kiss Maria.

"Damn it Kyle!  You have to concentrate!" Tess yelled from her position next to Kyle, taking Michael and Maria out of their moment.

"Uh, I'm sorry," Michael said, putting Maria down.

"Don't worry about it," Maria said.  "Well come on, we've still got a lot to practice," she said.

"Yeah, you're right," Michael replied uncomfortably before they got back into their training session.

Meanwhile…

            "Okay, Valenti, the first thing you're going to learn is how to produce and aim an energy blast," Tess said.

            "And that would be?" he asked.

            "It's like a block of energy.  It looks kind of like throwing a bolt of lightning.  If you use enough energy and power, you could easily produce one strong enough to kill off your enemy.  It's what we used yesterday when we fought those Skins," she explained.

            "Oh, I see," Kyle said.  "And how do you expect to teach me that?" he asked.

            "It's quite simple.  Most of our powers start mentally.  You just have to imagine it and want it bad enough, and it'll happen.  Eventually, it'll get to the point where you'll only have to think of it for less than a second before it happens," she said.

            "So, how do I start?" 

            "All right, an energy blast can be very powerful and destructive if you want it to be.  It can also be very calm and cause absolutely no pain – it all depends on how much you put into it," she explained.  

            "All right, so all I have to do is choose how strong I want it to be, and it'll happen?" Kyle asked.

            "That's part of it.  If you're in a battle, you don't exactly have time to decide how strong of a blast you want to throw at your enemy.  You have to sort of make the power a part of you.  This way, the strength of the blast depends a lot more on instinct," Tess said.

            "And how do I do that?" he asked.

            "Concentration is basically all it takes," she said as she went to her backpack.  "Like you said, you just have to decide the strength of the blast," she said as produced a CD player from her bag.

            "What's that for?" Kyle asked confused.

            "For you," Tess replied.  "I'm going to put this on the ground, and your job break it into pieces with an energy blast," she added.

            "You're willing to ruin a perfectly good CD player for this?" Kyle asked in disbelief.

            "Well, obviously, I'll just fix it once we're done," Tess said as though it were the most obvious answer in the world.  

            "Oh, yeah," Kyle replied sheepishly.  "I kind of forgot about how advanced you guys really are."

            "It doesn't really take a lot to put a broken object back together.  Once we're done with energy blasts, I'll teach you how to do that," she replied.

            "Awesome!  We'll never have to worry about buying a new radio once ours breaks," he replied happily.

            "Whatever," Tess replied with a roll of her eyes.  "Come on Valenti, stop stalling and start concentrating," she said, pointing to the CD player on the ground.

            "Do I just stare at it and wish for it to happen?" he asked in a confused tone.

            "No, moron, you're not a magic lamp.  You do the same thing you do when you use your powers on a locked door," she replied irritably.  "Raise your hand and aim at it," she instructed.  Kyle did as she said.

            "Now what?" he asked.

            "Now, you just relax and allow the energy to flow through you.  You should probably already feel it," she said.  

            "I think I do," Kyle lied, not really understanding what she was saying.  He closed his eyes, hoping that it would have more of an effect on his concentration.  Tess looked up at him to find his eyes closed.

            "Hey, Valenti, you kind of need to see what the hell it is you're aiming at," she said sarcastically.  "Open your eyes, I promise the CD player won't attack you," she added with a smirk.

            "Very funny," Kyle replied sarcastically.  "You know, this would be a lot easier without your insults and sarcastic remarks," he commented.

            "Maybe, but then it'd also be very boring.  And I like to be entertained," she said with an innocent smile.

            "Whatever, can we hurry and get this over with?" he asked in an annoyed tone.

            "Hey, I'm waiting for you," Tess said, raising her hands as though in surrender.  "Okay, on a serious note, just imagine the blast flowing from your hand and to the CD player," she instructed.

            Kyle did as she told him and couldn't feel any change in his body.  Every inch of him felt the same and he was beginning to think that this was just a waste of time.  And he told Tess so.

            "Damn it Kyle!  You have to concentrate!" she yelled, getting impatient with his negative attitude.

            "What the hell do you think I've been doing?!" he exclaimed.

            "I don't know, but you're wasting your time and mine.  Now concentrate on the flow of energy in your body and the effect of the energy blast.  Concentrate as hard as you can because I'm getting annoyed with you!" she exclaimed.

            "All right, geez, don't have a freaking cow," he muttered.

            "Don't speak to me until you've produced an energy blast," she said seriously, knowing that he wouldn't concentrate unless he was absolutely forced to.

            Kyle, seeing that Tess was seriously getting pissed with him, turned back to the CD player.  He reached down within himself and tried to do what Tess told him.  He imagined a powerful energy blast emitting from his hand and blowing the player to pieces.  In seconds, pieces of the player were splattered all around him and Tess was standing beside him looking at him as though he were a king.

            "I did that?" he asked in disbelief.

            "Yes you did, Valenti," she replied excitedly.  "I knew you could do it if you just tried.  That all you have to do, try and believe in yourself, and you'll be able to go against almost anyone," she said as she hugged him.

            "Well, I wouldn't go that far.  I'm not exactly going to jump in front of Khivar any time soon," he replied sarcastically.

            "But you will be.  As a royal, you're naturally stronger than the average Antarian.  Give me some time and I'll have you strong enough to take out half of Khivar's army without exerting a drop of sweat," she replied energetically.

            "Let's hope you're right," Kyle replied, unable to hold back his excitement.

            "All right, come on, we have other things to do," she said and she picked up the pieces of the CD player and dropped them on the ground in front of Kyle.

            "What are you doing?" Kyle asked.

            "Your next task is to put the CD player back together," she said with a smile.  "Get to work," she added.  Kyle sighed before turning back to the pieces to go through another training session with Tess.  This was going to be a long day.

Hours later, Michael was still practicing his newfound powers.  Max, Alex, and Kyle had long since gotten tired and decided to take a nap.  Liz, Tess, and Isabel quickly followed them.  Michael, however, was adamant about practicing and refused to stop for more than five minutes.  Maria had long ago given up on teaching him and just watched from the sidelines as he blew up rocks and produced energy blasts with the ease of a little kid at an amusement park.

            "All right, spaceboy, I think you've had enough for one day," Maria spoke up finally, wanting to leave the desert.

            "Are you sure, because I could keep going," Michael insisted.

            "I'm sure you could, but I'm bored and tired.  Besides, it's not good to overuse powers that you just put into action.  As it is, you're already going to wake up weak and tired tomorrow morning," she said.

            "All right, if you're sure, I guess we could head back.  We start work in half an hour anyway," he said.  

            "Good!" Maria said excitedly as she stood up.  "They've been sleeping for hours, you'd think they'd have the common sense to at least fall asleep in the car," she said as she looked at all the sleeping teens spread out across the sandy desert.

            "Your sisters probably overworked my brothers," Michael replied.

            "Or maybe your brothers just couldn't stand a little hard work," Maria challenged.  Michael smiled at Maria's response.

            "You always have a reply to everything, don't you?" he asked. 

            "Yes, I think I do," Maria replied with smile of her own.

            "All right, let's wake them up and leave.  If we're late for work, Jeff us going to call our dad," Michael said.

            "Hey, Michael, I've always wanted to know, why do you and your brothers refer to Jim as your father?  Especially Max and Alex who have their own adopted parents," she asked.

            "Because Jim is basically our father," Michael replied simply.  He looked at Maria and could tell that it wasn't a good enough answer for her.  "Okay, basically, when we hatched, Jim found us.  He was in the desert investigating some other case and when he saw us he came over to try to help us.  But I didn't know him so I immediately raised my hand and accidentally blew up a few small rocks behind of him.  

He automatically realized that we were different and he slowly walked over to us so that we wouldn't be scared.  He started talking and none of us could understand anything he said except Alex, for some reason – we later realized that Alex was really good at lip-reading.  Anyway, Alex saw him say the word 'dad' and automatically called him that.  The rest of us just copied him.  Jim took us to his house and kept us hidden there for about one month.  And in the first week, the only word we could say was 'dad' and that's how we were able to refer to him; he later taught us how to speak English.  

Eventually, Jim realized he couldn't keep all of us, so he made sure that we went to families that he knew.  The Evans, Whitmans, and Guerins, and he kept Kyle with him.  He kept us for only for a month, but in that month, he taught us everything we needed to know to survive on Earth.  Not only that, but he accepted our powers and taught us about the dangers of using it in public or in front of our adoptive parents.  So after we were put in other families, we couldn't accept them as our parents; Jim was the only parent we knew when we first stepped into this world.  So that's basically why all of us call him 'dad' and refer to the adopted parents by their first names.  And they understand it and accept it."

"Oh, it all makes a lot more sense now," Maria said after Michael finished telling his story.  "What happened to your adopted parents?" she asked inquisitively.  She noticed him tense up at her question.

"They're gone," he replied unemotionally.

"What do you mean?" she asked curiously.  Michael sighed before replying again.

"Abby, my adopted mom, died when I was ten.  And after she died, Hank, my adopted father, went into some kind of depression.  He wouldn't talk to anyone and when he finally did step into reality, he would just drink until he was too drunk to even know his name.  Eventually he became physically and emotionally abusive towards me.  One day, Dad came over with Kyle to take me out to eat lunch and he saw Hank passed out on the couch and bruises all over my arms and face.  He immediately had Hank arrested and took me home.  For some reason, he couldn't legally adopt me, so I became his foster child and moved in with him and Kyle," he explained.

"I'm really sorry, Michael," Maria said sadly.

"Don't be.  I don't want pity from anyone.  There are people worse off than me, go give them your pity," he replied bitterly.

"Why did you and Kyle move out?" she asked quickly, seeing that Michael wanted to drop the conversation.

"People were starting to wonder about Dad's connection to us, especially after the Crashdown shooting," he replied, glad that Maria understood that he didn't want to continue that conversation.  "We realized it'd be better for Jim if we didn't live with him, because if he lost his position as Sheriff, the police force would most likely start a full investigation on us.  Alex moved in with us after his parents found out about the alien status, they were just too freaked out by the whole idea.  As for Max, I think he just moved in with us because he felt left out," he said with a small laugh.  

"So he left a good, two-story house with a mom and dad to live in an apartment with three other guys who eat take-out every night?" Maria asked, not seeing why Max would do that.

"Basically," Michael replied with a laugh.  "But it's not that bad.  Dad checks on us all the time to make sure we have food in the refrigerator; he also pays most of our bills for the apartment.  And Diane comes to our apartment every week to make sure that it's clean.  And if we're low on food, Nancy will come over and drop off some food from the Crashdown or cook for us herself.  They all basically make sure that we're living like adults," he explained.

"Interesting," Maria commented.  "I don't think my sisters and I could live without our mom always being there to take care of us.  I think we'd burn down the apartment if we were left to make our own food," she said with a laugh.

"You probably would," Michael joked.  Maria lightly hit him on his arm.

"Shut up, no one told you to agree.  Now help me wake them up," she said with a smile as she headed over to Liz and Max.  She gently shook them awake.  Michael headed over to Kyle and Tess and smacked Kyle on the back of the head while yelling at Tess to wake up.

"Geez, could you be any ruder?" Tess muttered as she woke up.

"Yes, I could have left you guys here while Maria and I headed back to town," he replied with a smirk.

"Asshole," Tess muttered.  Michael simply smiled before ruffling her hair and heading over to Alex and Isabel.  He was about to yell again when Isabel's voice stopped him.

"If you yell in my ear, I swear I'll enter your dreams and give you nightmares you've never even thought of," she said, not bothering to open her eyes.  

"Maria!" he yelled, calling Maria over.  Maria came up to him.

"What?" she asked.

"Wake your sister up, I'm not looking forward being tortured in my dreams," he said, walking away.  Maria laughed at him as he retreated.

"Come on Iz, wake up, we've got to get back to the Crashdown before Jeff starts to worry about they guys," she said.

"I know, I know," she mumbled as she finally opened her eyes.  "You know, I'm getting really tired of having my dreams interrupted," she muttered angrily.

"Aw, were you having sweet dreams of me?" Alex asked with a smile.

"No, those would be nightmares," she replied with a roll of her eyes.

"You know you want me Isabel," Alex said.  "You've had you eyes on me since we first met that night in the Crashdown.  And now that all our secrets are out in the open, you want me even more," he insisted.

"In your dreams, Whitman," Isabel replied as she headed to the cars.

"Exactly," he replied with a huge smile.  "You should check them out sometime, I think you'd enjoy it," he added with a laugh.

"Can we please hurry up and leave before I blast him to pieces," Isabel said aloud while glaring at Alex.  
  


"Sure, Izzy, let's go," Maria said as she hopped into the car with Michael and Alex.  "We'll meet you guys at the Crahsdown," she said to Kyle, Tess, Liz, and Max, as they hopped into the other car.  

"All right, spaceboy, let's roll," Maria said once she was settled in the passenger seat.

"Whatever you say, spacegirl," Michael replied with a smile as she started the jeep and pulled into the road.

TBC…

Please leave feedback!!!!


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9  
  
"You're late," Jeff said as he saw the eight teens walk into the restaurant.  
  
"Sorry about that, we got caught up at the desert," Max explained.  
  
"Yeah, Amy came by earlier and told me not to expect you four to be on time," Jeff replied. "I already called in four other employees to replace you guys so you have the night off," he added.  
  
"Aww gee! And I was so looking forward to spending my Saturday night working," Alex said with mock disappointment.  
  
"Well if you were really looking forward to it, I could always put you on the schedule," Jeff replied with a smug smile.  
  
"No, no! That's okay," Alex said quickly.  
  
"Yeah, somehow I knew that would be your response," Jeff said with a smile.  
  
He looked past Alex and the boys to notice the girls standing behind them quietly. In the two months that they had been here, he had developed a fondness toward them - all of the parents did. They were constantly at the Crashdown when the boys were working, keeping them company and he and the other parents had appreciated their friendship to their pseudo sons. However, he had not talked or seen any of them since the night Khivar came to his restaurant almost a week ago. Not that he could blame them, they were practically kicked out of the restaurant the last time they were there.  
  
"It's good to see you girls again," he said timidly, trying to ease into an apology. He could tell that it wasn't working because all four of the girls were looking at him indifferently. He was about to try a different approach when Liz spoke up.  
  
"Hi Mr. Parker, how've you been?" she asked with a small smile.  
  
"Great! And how have you girls been? Good I hope," Jeff said excitedly, happy that at least one of them was talking to him.  
  
"Yeah, we've been fine, right?" Liz said, looking for confirmation from her sisters. The girls simply nodded.  
  
"Look girls, I know that 'sorry' doesn't cut it, but I do truly feel bad for the way that I and the rest of the adults treated you last week," Jeff said. "We had no right to stand there and judge you because, you were right, we have no idea what you girls have been through," he added, waiting for their reaction. Maria was the first to speak up.  
  
"Thanks Mr. Parker, and don't worry about it, we know that you were just trying to protect the guys, it's completely understandable," she said.  
  
"Yeah," Isabel added. "We're all stuck together so there's no point in holding any grudges," she said.  
  
"Great," Jeff said with a smile. "How about you guys have dinner here, on the house," he suggested.  
  
"That sounds great," Tess said with a smile.  
  
"I'll have to take a rain check," Maria said. "I'm exhausted, what with dealing with Michael all day," she said, throwing a smile at Michael. "I'm just going to head home."  
  
"Are you sure, Ria?" Liz asked.  
  
"Yeah, definitely. I'll see you guys at home," she said before getting ready to leave.  
  
"Hey, Blondie, I'll give you a ride," Michael said, stopping her before she could leave.  
  
"Fine, but don't call me Blondie," Maria said with a small glare. "I'll see you guys on Monday," she said to Max, Alex, and Kyle before leaving the Crashdown with Michael.  
  
The drive to Maria's house was done in comfortable silence, and before they knew it, they had arrived.  
  
"So, you coming in?" Maria asked.  
  
"I thought you were too 'exhausted' for me," Michael said with a smirk.  
  
"I am, but I figured I'd be nice since you gave me a ride-don't think I actually enjoy your presence," Maria replied with a smirk of her own.  
  
"Ouch, Maria, that really hurts," Michael said while bringing his hand to his chest.  
  
"I'm sure you'll survive, now hurry up and get out," she said before getting out of the car and heading to her front door. Michael quickly followed.  
  
"Why's it so quiet?" Michael asked as they entered the house. In the two months that he had known the girls, he had gotten used to their house being filled with Amy's hippie music during the day.  
  
"I don't know. My mom's car is still outside," Maria replied, wondering where Amy was. "Mom?" she called out. She heard a noise from upstairs in response.  
  
"I guess she's in her room," Michael said, getting ready to take a seat on the couch.  
  
"Come say hi with me," Maria said, not giving Michael a chance to answer before taking his hand and dragging him upstairs. Upon reaching Amy's room door, Maria barged in, not bothering to knock. "Hi Mo-" Maria stopped short at the site before her. There in front of her was Amy, with Jim Valenti, on top of her, kissing her like there was no tomorrow. Neither Amy nor Jim noticed Maria's presence.  
  
"Jesus, Maria, would you move so that I can get in," Michael said as he lightly shoved Maria further into the room and made his way in. He barely made two steps before he stopped dead in his tracks.  
  
"What the hell?!?!" he exclaimed, gaining the immediate attention of Amy and Jim.  
  
"Michael! Maria!" Amy exclaimed in surprise. "What.what are you two doing here?" she asked.  
  
"I live here!" Maria said. "What the hell is he doing here?" Maria asked, pointing at Jim.  
  
"Amy and I were just." Jim started.  
  
"Just what? Making out like teenagers?" Michael cut in.  
  
"Oh, that is so gross," Maria said as she started to back out of the room.  
  
"Let us explain," Amy said.  
  
"No way, I think the mental image you guys have given us is enough," Michael said, not wanting to hear about his dad's love life. "We'll just leave and let you two get back to whatever it was you were doing," he said, barely forcing down the shudder that threatened to go through his body at the image of what Amy and Jim would do. He turned to Maria and saw that she was still too shocked to leave the room.  
  
"Come on, Blondie, let's get out of here," he said as he dragged her out of the room, down the stairs, and back to his car.  
  
"That was so gross," Maria said after they had been driving for a few minutes. She couldn't get the image of her mom and Jim kissing out of her head.  
  
"I know," Michael said, just as disgusted. "That was my dad," he said in shock.  
  
"And that was my mom," Maria added.  
  
"And they were making out," Michael said. Both he and Maria shuddered at his last statement.  
  
"Ew, can we not talk about this, it's too traumatizing," Maria said.  
  
"Fine by me," Michael replied. "So where do you want to go? The Crashdown?" he asked.  
  
"No, it's probably packed by now," Maria replied as she looked out the window. "Pull over here," she said as she saw a swing set come into view.  
  
"The park?" Michael asked confused.  
  
"Yeah, I love parks, there's such a childish vibe that surrounds them," she said with a small smile.  
  
"If you say so," Michael said with a shake of his head as he parked the car and got out with Maria. Maria quickly guided him to the swings.  
  
"Push me," she said as she took a seat on the swing. Michael walked behind her and started to lightly push the swing.  
  
"Whee!" Maria said childishly as Michael pushed her higher. Michael couldn't help but smile at her carefree attitude.  
  
"What are you smiling about?" Maria asked.  
  
"Nothing, you can just be really cute sometimes," Michael replied, surprised by his words. He looked at Maria and saw that she was equally surprised.  
  
"Just sometimes, spaceboy?" she questioned as she slowly stopped swinging.  
  
"Yeah, you know your loud mouth tends to take away some cuteness," Michael replied with a smile. Maria lightly hit him on his shoulder.  
  
"Shut up," she replied with a smile. The sound of children's laughter attracted their attention and they both turned to the left to see a young boy and girl laughing and playing with their mom and dad. After a brief silence, Michael spoke up.  
  
"Did you ever sit down and think about what our real family was like?" Michael asked as he took a seat on the swing beside Maria.  
  
"Yeah, I did actually. I love Amy with everything in me, but I've always wondered what my mom and dad were like or if my sisters and I were really sisters," Maria replied as she started to think deeply.  
  
"Yeah, me too. After Abby died and Hank became a drunk, I used to lay in bed in my room and imagine what my mom and dad were like-it always bothered me not to know," Michael said.  
  
"I know what you mean. Before Amy knew our secret, my sisters and I used to cry ourselves to sleep at night thinking that we'd never get to know our real mom or dad."  
  
"Do you think you ever will?" Michael asked.  
  
"Excuse me?" Maria asked confused.  
  
"Do you think we'll ever get a chance to meet and get to know our parents?" Michael asked. There was a slight pause before Maria replied.  
  
"I don't know," she said with a sigh. "I like to think that one day we'll be lucky enough to meet them, but at the same time I wouldn't be surprised if Khivar already got his hands on them. After all, he was pretty pissed that our parents decided to reincarnate us, who knows what he did to them after he found out," she said.  
  
"You honestly think he killed them?" Michael asked sadly. Although he loved Jim like a father, he had always held out hope of meeting his birth parents and to realize that they could be dead was more than he wanted to handle.  
  
"I really don't know, Michael," Maria said quietly as she saw the sad expression come across Michael's face. "Who knows with Khivar. We just have to hope that our parents were too smart to let him get them." Michael stayed silent after her statement.  
  
"Why us?" Michael asked, breaking the long silence.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Why, out of all the people on Antar, why were the eight of us picked to run an entire planet?"  
  
"I wish I knew, at least all of this would make a little sense," Maria replied. "But it doesn't matter why we were picked, bottom line is, we were picked."  
  
"You think we can beat Khivar?" he asked.  
  
"We have to, for Antar and Earth," Maria replied.  
  
"But do you think we can?" he repeated.  
  
"Oh yeah," Maria replied with a dark look. "No way will I let that bastard get away with killing me again. I'll kill myself before I let him kill anyone of us."  
  
"Whoa," Michael said, seeing the dark look on Maria's face. At that moment, Maria looked like she could kill Khivar with her bare hands. Michael wasn't sure if he should be worried or proud; he decided to go with proud. "Khivar better watch out when you get near him," he said.  
  
"He better watch out when we get near him," Maria corrected. "With the pace you're learning your powers, it's only a matter of time before you and I become unstoppable."  
  
"You think so?" Michael asked, surprised that he was proud of Maria's compliment.  
  
"Definitely," Maria replied. "Khivar won't stand a chance," she said confidently before turning to look at the sky.  
  
"We better get going, it's getting dark," Michael said a few minutes later as he noticed the moon.  
  
"Yeah, you're right," Maria said as she rose from the swing.  
  
"Come on," Michael said as he unconsciously took Maria's hand in his and led her to his car; he was surprised when Maria didn't pull away.  
  
"You should do this more often," Michael said once they were situated in the car and on their way to Maria's house.  
  
"Do what?"  
  
"Open up," Michael said simply.  
  
"What are you talking about? I'm always open," Maria argued.  
  
"No, you're not. In the two months that I've known you, you've always closed yourself off when a conversation got too personal for your liking. I guess it was understandable, considering that we didn't know who you were, but it's nice to be able to have a conversation with you and know that none of your walls are going to be put up," he said,  
  
"My walls?" Maria asked in an amused voice.  
  
"Yes, your walls," Michael replied with a smile. "Sometimes, you're a stonewall that refuses to let anyone but your sisters and mother in."  
  
"Oh really?" Maria, slightly amused by Michael's metaphor.  
  
"Yes, really, but don't worry Deluca, I intend to knock them down day by day," Michael replied with a smile.  
  
"And how do you plan on doing that?" she asked.  
  
"Just wait and see, Blondie," he replied as he pulled in Maria's driveway.  
  
"All right then, spaceboy. I'll wait to find out what you have in store for me," Maria replied as she gathered her purse.  
  
"You do that," Michael replied with a smile as Maria got out of the car and walked over to the driver's side of the car.  
  
"Call me when you get home, okay?" she said to Michael as she stood by his car window.  
  
"No problem, Blondie," Michael replied with a smile.  
  
"And thanks for hanging with me today, I had a good time," she added before leaning in and giving him a kiss on the cheek.  
  
"Anytime," Michael replied, still tingling from Maria's light peck.  
  
Michael watched as Maria walked to her door and entered her house. He sat there in silence for a few minutes before finally starting his car and heading back home.to call Maria.  
  
TBC.  
  
Please leave feedback!!!! 


	10. Chapter 10

I know I haven't updated in a while, and I'm sorry, but I post this at other boards and it doesn't get many reviews, so I was just going to discontinue it, but then I remembered that I still had chapters that I hadn't posted here, so I decided to post it and see what everyone's overall opinion is. So please let me know what you think of this chapter! Thanks!!  
  
Chapter 10  
  
"It's A."  
  
"It's C."  
  
"Listen, you nimrod, I know what I'm doing, and the answer is A."  
  
"I'm not a nimrod, you cheesehead. And the answer's C."  
  
"A."  
  
"C."  
  
"Would you both shut up!? And for your information, the answer's D."  
  
Michael and Maria turned around in their seats to glare Tess. Tess simply rolled her eyes, annoyed with their behavior; Michael and Maria had spent the last ten minutes arguing over the answer to a physics question, and they were quickly pissing her off.  
  
"Who the hell was talking to you?" Michael asked rudely.  
  
"Well if you didn't want me to interfere, you should have kept your voices low. Some of us are trying to finish our own work," Tess replied haughtily.  
  
"Yeah, I can see how hard-working Kyle is being," Maria said sarcastically, pointing to the sleeping boy next to Tess.  
  
"Wake up!" Tess exclaimed, hitting Kyle over the head with her notebook.  
  
"Wha—what?" Kyle exclaimed as he tried to shake off his tiredness. "What the hell did you hit me for?" he asked Tess angrily.  
  
"In case you forgot, we're in class," Tess said, pointing to the students all around her. "And we have to finish this assignment before the bell rings, so stop sleeping and start helping or I'll make sure Mrs. Jackson knows that you didn't help whatsoever," she said with a glare.  
  
"Fine, geez, you don't have to be so cranky about it," Kyle mumbled.  
  
"What was that, Valenti?" Tess asked with a raised eyebrow.  
  
"Nothing, nothing," Kyle replied quickly.  
  
"Good one, Kyle," Michael said sarcastically.  
  
"Oh, shut up, at least he tries to cooperate, unlike some people I know," Maria said, looking pointedly at Michael.  
  
"Maybe I'd cooperate if I had a partner who didn't feel the need to comment on every little thing I did," Michael bit back.  
  
"Well maybe—"  
  
"Oh, for the love of God, would you two please shut up!" Tess exclaimed. "I seriously don't understand you two," she muttered, unable to understand the weird relationship of her sister and Michael.  
  
Just two days ago, she had come home on Saturday night to see Maria talking to Michael on the phone with a goofy smile on her face. After Maria hung up with Michael, she had made Tess, Isabel, and Liz sit in her room for almost an hour as she reiterated her entire conversation with Michael to them. But now, only two days later, she and Michael were back to bickering and arguing like five year olds.  
  
"I don't think anyone will ever fully understand Michael and Maria," Kyle said with a smile.  
  
"Shut up," Michael muttered.  
  
"Yeah," Maria added. After a slight pause she added, "Besides, no one needs to understand us, we understand each other, right spaceboy?" she asked with an infectious smile.  
  
"Right, Blondie," Michael replied with a small smile of his own.  
  
"And now they're friends," Kyle said. "How long do you think it'll be before they're enemies again?" he asked Tess sarcastically.  
  
"I give them ten minutes, tops," Tess replied with a laugh.  
  
"I seriously hate the both of you so much right now," Maria said with a roll of her eyes.  
  
"Ditto," Michael added.  
  
"And we love you too," Tess said with a large smile. "Now be quiet so that we can finish this assignment before the bell rings," she added before turning her attention back to her notebook.  
  
Kyle, seeing that Tess had everything under control, laid his head back on the table, hoping to get a nap with the twenty minutes he had left of class. However, his head barely made it to the table before Tess's notebook got reacquainted with the back of it.  
  
"I'm telling you right now, Valenti, wake up and get to work, or I swear I'll zap you with my death ray eyes!" she whispered.  
  
"Death ray eyes!" Kyle exclaimed in a loud whisper. "You can't really do that, can you?" he asked. Seeing Tess dark glare, he turned his attention to Maria. "She can't really do that, can she?" he asked her nervously.  
  
"If you do your work, you won't have to find out," Maria replied with an amused smile before turning in her seat to work with Michael.  
  
"You heard her," Tess said. "Start answering those questions before I get mad!"  
  
"This is you when you're not mad?" Kyle asked incredulously.  
  
"Just shut up and start working," Tess said before getting back to work.  
  
Later that Night at the Crashdown...  
  
"Hey, Max, did you figure out the answer to that math question, yet?" Liz asked.  
  
"No, not yet," Max replied as he fixed himself a drink behind the counter.  
  
"I don't get this problem!" Liz exclaimed in aggravation. "I've been working on it for twenty minutes and I just don't get it!"  
  
"Let me see it," Alex said as he took Liz's book and looked at the problem. After a minute, he gave the book back to Liz.  
  
"It's 45," he said nonchalantly before making his way back to his stool by the counter.  
  
"Showoff," Liz muttered. "Just because you have super genius powers...." Alex laughed at Liz's comment before going back to his own homework assignment.  
  
"Valenti! Hurry up and get out here, we've got homework to finish," Tess yelled from her booth.  
  
"I'm coming, I'm coming, don't get your panties in a twist," Kyle muttered as he walked in from the back room.  
  
"It's hard not to when you're around—you just do it for me, Valenti," Tess replied with a wink. She got just the reaction she was expecting when she saw Kyle blush five shades of red.  
  
"I gotta say, Kyle, the tomato look really suits you," Michael said before laughing harder at Kyle's embarrassed expression.  
  
"It certainly does," Maria concurred with a smile.  
  
"Aww, did I embarrass you, Kyle," Tess asked in an innocent tone, unable to stop herself from smiling.  
  
"I thought you said we had a lot of homework to do," Kyle said, wanting to take the attention away from himself.  
  
"Yeah, I said that like an hour ago," Tess replied. "Geez, does it really take that long to close up a restaurant?" she asked in annoyance.  
  
"It does when no one helps," Kyle replied while glaring at Alex who was also supposed to help him close up tonight.  
  
"Don't look at me like that," Alex said. "My shift ended and hour before closing; I didn't have close," he persisted.  
  
"You could have helped. It's not like you were doing anything else besides annoying Isabel," Kyle replied before taking a seat across form Tess.  
  
"Ain't that the truth," Isabel muttered.  
  
"You and I both know that you enjoy my company, Isabel, "Alex said with a goofy smile. "You just like to use sarcasm to hide your real feelings."  
  
"And what would those real feelings be?" Isabel asked with a raised eyebrow.  
  
"Those feelings would be the unconditional, unyielding love and passion that you have for me," he said as he put his arms around her shoulders.  
  
"You wish, Whitman," Isabel said with a roll of her eyes before she shrugged Alex's hand off of her and walked over to Tess and Kyle's booth.  
  
"Oh, yeah, she wants me," Alex said to Maria and Michael who were sitting at a table right behind him.  
  
"Yeah, I see what you're talking about," Maria replied sarcastically before giggling at Alex's goofy expression.  
  
"You're really sad, Alex, you know that right?" Max said as he took a seat beside Alex.  
  
"This coming from the guy who spends all of his time gawking at Liz when he thinks no one is looking?" Alex said quietly, not want Maria to hear him.  
  
"I do not gawk," Max protested. "I simply—"  
  
"You simply gawk, Maxwell—accept it," Alex interrupted with a confident smile.  
  
"Whatever," Max mumbled.  
  
"What was that, Max," Alex asked in a taunting tone.  
  
"Shut up," Max murmured before letting himself and Alex get back to their homework.  
  
"This sucks!" Kyle exclaimed almost an hour later.  
  
"What is it now?"  
  
"We're eight, young teenagers, and instead of enjoying our time away from school, we're spending our night in an empty restaurant doing homework. We should be doing something fun, exhilarating; we need excitement!"  
  
"We're eight aliens training for a war with an alien tyrant—how much more excitement could you possibly need?" Michael said.  
  
"I'm talking about fun excitement—not the type of excitement where you know you could die at any moment," Kyle replied easily, not even realizing that he had just accepted his possible, maybe inevitable, death.  
  
"All right, Kyle, what do you propose we do?" Liz asked as she closed her book, happy to have a break from her homework.  
  
"Well, I don't know, but I'm sure I'll think of something," Kyle replied sheepishly.  
  
"You guys could tell us about your powers," Maria suggested. "Aside from Michael, I don't really know how the rest of you did on Saturday in the desert," she said.  
  
"That's a good idea," Isabel agreed.  
  
"Good, then it's settled," Maria said. "Kyle, why don't you start, since you wanted to do something different," she suggested.  
  
"Fine by me," Kyle said as he prepared blast a saltshaker on the counter near Alex. Before he could even raise his hand, a knock at the door stopped him.  
  
"Who the hell could that be?" Alex asked.  
  
"Who knows?" Kyle said with a shrug before he began to make his way over to the front door. He opened the door to see a young blonde female standing in front of him. "Can I help you?" he asked the girl.  
  
"Hi, I'm actually lost and my cell phone has low battery. I was hoping you'd allow me to just make a quick phone call to my friend so she can give me directions," the girl replied with a smile.  
  
"Yeah, sure," Kyle said as he let the girl in. "I'm Kyle, and that's Alex, Max, Michael, Maria, Liz, Tess, and Isabel," he said as he pointed to everyone in the restaurant.  
  
"Hi, I'm Courtney," the girl replied with a wave. She let her eyes linger on Michael and Maria before turning to greet everyone else in the room.  
  
Maria looked at the girl quizzically, unable to figure out why she looked so familiar.  
  
"What's wrong?" Michael asked in a whisper, seeing the perplexed look on Maria's face.  
  
"I don't know, she just looks so familiar," Maria replied, unable to take her eyes off of Courtney as she talked to Kyle.  
  
"I know what you mean," Michael replied.  
  
"You've seen her before?" Maria asked.  
  
"No, she doesn't even look remotely familiar to me," Michael said. "There's just something about her that rubs me the wrong way—it's like I knew instantly not to trust her."  
  
"Yeah, same here," Maria replied. "I don't like these feelings I'm getting and I'm going to find out why I'm getting them."  
  
"What are you going to do?" he asked. Maria ignored his question and turned her attention to Courtney.  
  
"So, Courtney, where are you from?" she asked.  
  
"I was born and raised in Arizona," Courtney replied with ease.  
  
"So what are you doing in Roswell?" Michael asked, joining in on Maria's questioning.  
  
"I'm visiting a few friends here; it's been a while since I've seen them so I decided to drop by" she replied.  
  
"Interesting," Maria said quietly, still looking at Courtney warily.  
  
"How so?" Courtney asked.  
  
"Well, it's just surprising that someone would just travel out of state in the middle of the school year just to visit a few friends," Maria replied.  
  
"Yeah, well I'm full of surprises," Courtney said with a cold smile. Maria gasped a Courtney's smile and grabbed onto Michael's hand. Suddenly she was thrown into a flashback  
  
*Flashback*  
  
Rayana blinked rapidly before finally opening her eyes completely. She had a massive headache and she had no idea what happened to her. She looked around her, hoping to find something that looked even remotely familiar to her. Noticing that she was in one of the living rooms of the Royal Palace, she let out a relieved breath.  
  
"At least I'm on safe territory," she said to herself as she rose from her position on the floor.  
  
"I wouldn't be too sure about that," a voice said coldly. Rayana quickly turned her head in the direction of the voice and immediately groaned.  
  
"And my massive headache just got worse," she muttered to herself. "What the hell are you doing here Ceiana?" she asked irritably.  
  
"So nice to see you too, Rayana," Ceiana replied with a glare.  
  
"How the hell did you get in here?" Rayana asked.  
  
"Do you hear that, Rayana?" Ceiana asked. "It's bombs going off all around the palace. It's not hard to get in when thousands of your so- called soldiers and bodyguards are out there fighting instead of protecting the palace," she said smugly.  
  
"You set them up?!" Rayana asked incredulously. "How the hell did set up an entire battle on your own?"  
  
"It's actually quite easy...when you've got the right connections," Ceiana replied.  
  
"You mean you actually found someone dumb enough to work with you?" Rayana asked with a roll of her eyes.  
  
"Now, I would hardly call Khivar dumb, Rayana," Ceiana replied coldly.  
  
"Khi—Khivar?" Rayana asked in a shaken voice. "You're working with Khivar?"  
  
"Yes, I am, and let me tell you, it's the most fun I've ever had. I really don't understand why so many people hate him," she replied.  
  
"Maybe it's because he's killed thousands of people without a second thought," Rayana replied sarcastically.  
  
"Oh well, they probably all deserved it," Ceiana replied with a shrug.  
  
"Why are you here, Ceiana?" Rayana asked exhaustingly.  
  
"To kill you, of course," she replied.  
  
"Kill me?" Rayana asked with a laugh. "How many times have you come to 'kill' me and failed tremendously? You've kidnapped me, tortured me, hell you've even come really close to killing me, but you've never been able to succeed, have you?" she asked.  
  
"Yeah, well things are going to change now," Ceiana replied confidently. "I've put up with you stealing Rath from me for too long; it stops now."  
  
"Excuse me? I 'stole' Rath from you? Newsflash, Ceiana, Rath was never yours to begin with. That was just some sad fantasy of yours that never came true," she said uninterestedly.  
  
"You're wrong! Rath and I would have been together if you weren't in the picture!"  
  
"You keep telling yourself that," Rayana replied as she unconsciously began to look at all the possible exits for her escape—a habit that Rath had taught her when they were kids and were trying to escape the boring confines of the palace. Turning back to Ceiana, she saw that she was still glaring at her.  
  
"You're not going to get away this time, Rayana," Ceiana said. "I'm going to finally get rid of you and then Rath will be all mine," she said confidently.  
  
"Whatever," Rayana said with a roll of her eyes. "Look if you don't mind, I'd like to go find my family. Hopefully, I won't see you anytime soon," she said as she turned around and began to walk away. Before she could get far, Ceiana raised her hand and knocked Rayana halfway across the room with a blast of energy.  
  
"Not so strong now, are you?" Ceiana asked with a small smile as she saw Rayana struggle to get back up.  
  
"Wow, Ceiana," Rayana started as she finally rose. "You're going for low blows now—I'm surprised."  
  
"Yeah, well I'm full of surprises," Ceiana replied with an icy smile before she was hit with a large energy blast that brought her to her knees.  
  
"So am I," Rath said as he lowered his hand an approached Rayana. "You okay, babe?" he asked.  
  
"Yeah, I've just got a huge headache," Rayana replied. "I think she knocked me out," she said, pointing to Ceiana.  
  
"She must have gotten to you while we were trying to protect the palace," Rath said as he bent down and looked at Ceiana. "You made a big mistake by coming here, Ceiana," he said harshly.  
  
"Rath, please, listen to me," Ceiana said nervously.  
  
"Listen to you? You, the girl who's tried to kill my wife numerous times, want me to listen to you? Sorry, not going to happen, Ceiana. You had your chance to leave us alone; you had more than one chance to just stay away from us, but you didn't learn. Well I'm done giving you chances to live—this ends now," he said as he raised his hand and prepared to kill her.  
  
"Don't do this, Rath," Ceiana said. "You'll regret it," she insisted.  
  
"Highly unlikely," Rayana said with a roll of her eyes.  
  
"Khivar will get you for this. I'm one of his most trusted soldiers, he come after you," Ceiana insisted.  
  
"He's already coming after us, Ceiana," Rath said. "We might as well get something out of this godforsaken war," he added with a smirk as he produced an energy ball.  
  
"You'll both regret this, I'll see to it," Ceiana threatened. And before she could say anything else, Rayana blasted her, killing her instantly.  
  
"You think she meant what she said," Rath asked Rayana as he waved his hand over the dust that was once Ceiana.  
  
"Normally, I wouldn't think so, but she was working with Khivar. Ceiana, although very annoying, can be very dangerous when she wants to be. With Khivar on her side, who knows what the hell those two could do together," she replied.  
  
"It doesn't matter anyway," Rath said as he took Rayana's hand in his. "Come on, we've got to get back out there and fight, our soldiers are barely surviving," he said before walking out of the room, Rayana following not too far behind.  
  
*End Flashback*  
  
Maria jumped out of her chair, knocking it over in the process. She let go of Michael's hands and looked in his eyes. The look on his face was enough to let her know that he had experienced the flashback with her. Turning back to Courtney, she saw her looking at Michael and herself with barely concealed anger. Before anyone could say anything Maria raised her hand blasted Courtney across the restaurant.  
  
"Maria!" Kyle exclaimed, already heading over to help Courtney up.  
  
"Kyle, don't touch her!" Michael yelled as he rose from his seat and stood beside Maria.  
  
"Wow," Courtney said as she rose from her position of the floor. "I must say, Rayana, your blasts have gotten weaker. I guess Earth changed you more than I thought," she said before raising her hand and blasting Maria across the room, shocking everyone in the room except Michael. "Fortunately for me, my powers are just as powerful," she added.  
  
"And unfortunately for you, your intelligence has also remained the same," Maria said, raising from the floor and walking towards Courtney. "I would have thought that you would have learned not to go against me in a fight, Ceiana," she said.  
  
"Well, I couldn't just leave without a proper goodbye," Courtney said with a sick smile. "After all, I never got a chance to on Antar," she said coldly, turning to Michael as she added the last part.  
  
"Yeah, you were too busy trying to kill her," Michael replied with a glare. "But luckily for us, your own stupidity was your downfall," he added.  
  
"Excuse me?" Courtney asked indignantly, turning all of her attention to Michael.  
  
"You heard me," Michael said. "You always did like to gloat, Ceiana. Didn't Khivar ever teach you? You should never relax until the job is done—apparently you didn't get the memo. Your stupidity in not killing Maria the first chance you got is what caused your death," he said.  
  
"Well, things are going to be different this time around," Courtney said self-assuredly. "Especially since word around town is that you aren't as strong as you used to be, Rath; the same goes for the rest of you," she said with a smile as she looked around the entire restaurant.  
  
"Care to test that theory?" Maria asked with a glare.  
  
"Maria, what the hell is going on!?" Isabel asked angrily.  
  
"Oh, Lonnie always the impatient one, aren't you?" Courtney taunted.  
  
"Don't call me that," Isabel said instinctively, unsure why the nickname bothered her so much.  
  
"Oh, that's right, you don't remember," Courtney said with a smug smile. "Khivar used to call you that all the time—you used to love it."  
  
"Don't listen to her, Izzy," Maria said. "She's lying."  
  
"All right, so maybe I am," Courtney said with a shrug. "But I scared you for a second, didn't I?" she asked Isabel with a sadistic smile.  
  
"As fun as this is, I'm afraid we're going to have to cut this short," Maria said as she raised her hand. "I commend you on having the guts to come after us again, Ceiana, but once again you've failed."  
  
"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure about that," Courtney said before surprising everyone in the room by throwing an energy blast at Michael instead of Maria.  
  
Before Maria could blast Courtney, Michael had already produced an energy ball and threw it at Courtney, brining her to her knees. Maria joined in by throwing another blast at Courtney, making her fall completely on the ground. Without waiting, Maria rushed over to Michael and helped him up. Together, they quickly made their way to a dying Courtney.  
  
"It's kind of like déjà vu, isn't it?" Maria asked with a small smile.  
  
"Maybe," Courtney said weakly. "But this time, I may have won," she said with a smile of her own.  
  
"How so?" Michael asked with a raised eyebrow. "You're the only one left for dead," he said.  
  
"No, I'm not," Courtney said as she coughed harshly. "I may not have hurt you physically, but I did hurt you. I'll let Khivar finish you off."  
  
"What the hell are you talking about?" Maria asked, afraid of the certainty she saw in Courtney's eyes.  
  
"You'll find out soon enough," Courtney said before closing her eyes for the final time. A few seconds later, she was nothing but dust.  
  
"What the hell was that!?" Alex exclaimed after Courtney's body disappeared.  
  
"And what the hell was she talking about? How the hell did she hurt you if she's the one that's dying?" Kyle asked.  
  
"I don't know," Michael said in a confused tone. He stood there, trying to figure out what Courtney's words meant.  
  
"She's not the only one," Maria said quietly as recognition dawned on her. Turning to Michael with wide eyes, she saw that he came to the same conclusion as her.  
  
"She's not the only one dying," Michael said quietly, almost afraid that something would happen if he said the words any louder.  
  
"Amy!"  
  
"Jim!"  
  
And before anyone could say anything, Michael and Maria were running out of the restaurant and to their respected cars. Less than five seconds later, their six friends were following them, each rushing to make sure Courtney really was the only one left for dead.  
  
TBC...  
  
Whew...that took a while to write, lol. Sorry if it's too long, but I hope you guys liked it.  
  
Please leave feedback!!! 


	11. Author's Note

Recently, replies have been left demanding that Max and Liz be king and queen in "Fight of Our Lives" and insulting my choice to make Michael and Maria the main couple. These types of replies are simply rude in my opinion and not needed. When I ask for feedback, I would like to receive constructive criticism, not accusations that my writing isn't good because your favorite couple isn't the center of my story. I'm sorry if I sound mean, but I don't think it's fair to receive these rude replies, especially since I clearly stated in the first chapter that this story was an AU story and that M/M were my favorite couple and would probably be the center of everything. I would appreciate it greatly if those who leave feedback leave me with something I can work with, rather than insults that do nothing to better my writing or my plot. Thank You very much.  
  
-BBGrl 


	12. Chapter 11

Sorry for the wait, just been a little busy. And special thanks to those who agree with me on the whole M/M issue. I hope you guys like this and I'll try to get started on the next chapter as soon as possible!  
  
Chapter 11  
  
"Maria! What the hell is going on?!" Isabel exclaimed as Maria swerved again, barely avoiding getting hit by a passing car.  
  
"I think Courtney did something to Mom," Maria said quickly, not bothering to explain further as she concentrated on the road.  
  
"Why the hell would she do that? And why did you, her and Michael seem to know each other?" she pressed, not used to the fact the Maria obviously knew something that she and the rest of her sisters didn't.  
  
"Look, it's a long story, and I can't explain it now!" Maria said in a frustrated tone as yet another streetlight turned red before she could pass it.  
  
"The hell you can't!" Isabel said, getting just as frustrated as Maria. "You can't just tell us that Mom may be in danger and then not give us reasons why!"  
  
"What the hell do you want from me, Isabel?!" Maria yelled angrily as the light turned green.  
  
"I want a damn explanation!"  
  
"Okay, stop!" Tess said, finally cutting in. "I don't know what the hell happened back at the Crashdown, but if Maria thinks that something happened to Mom, then the best thing we can do is concentrate on her, instead of tearing each other apart."  
  
"Tess is right," Liz said. "Maria will explain everything to us once we're certain that everything's okay," she said to Isabel.  
  
"Fine," Isabel said dejectedly. "I'm sorry, Ria; I'm just..." she trailed off, not wanting to admit how scared she was that Maria's prediction may be true.  
  
"I know," Maria said sadly. She reached over to her side and grabbed Isabel's hand, squeezing it for reassurance. "I'm sure everything will be okay," she said unconvincingly. She looked in her rearview mirror to see Michael's jeep right behind them.  
  
"Tess, try calling the house again," Liz said.  
  
"I've already tried three times, Lizzy."  
  
"Well try again," Maria said, not taking her eyes off the road. Tess nodded before dialing her house once again. After four rings, she was about to hang up when she finally heard a voice pick up.  
  
"Hello?" a voice said weakly into the phone.  
  
"Hello?" Tess said warily. "Who is this?"  
  
"Tess," the voice rasped out. "Help, please," it said feebly.  
  
"Jim?" Tess said loudly into the phone. She got no response. "Jim?!" she said louder, worried about the weak tone in Jim's voice. Before she could question him, her cell phone cut off.  
  
"What happened?" Isabel asked worriedly.  
  
"I don't know," Tess said, still staring at her phone. "Jim answered, but he sounded so weak and out of it."  
  
"What did he say?" Liz asked.  
  
"'Help,'" Tess replied, her fear rising as she repeated the words.  
  
"Tess, take my phone and call Michael's cell phone," Maria ordered. "Tell him to follow us to our house; if he asks questions, explain the phone call to him," she said urgently as she reached back and handed Tess her cell phone. Tess took the phone and quickly began to do as she was told.  
  
Meanwhile...  
  
"So, you're saying this Courtney chick was an enemy in our past lives?" Kyle said from his position next to Michael, trying to process everything that Michael told them as he continued to drive.  
  
"Yes, moron!" Michael said angrily, tired of having to repeat himself. He hit his hand on the steering wheel as he was forced to stop at yet another red light.  
  
"I still don't understand what she has to do with Dad being in danger," Alex said, just as dumbfounded as Kyle and Max.  
  
"Look, I'm not going to say it again," Michael said agitatedly as he began to drive again. "I'll explain it more clearly once we make sure Dad's okay," he said.  
  
"You bet you will," Kyle muttered angrily, upset that his dad might be in danger and he didn't even know why.  
  
"Look, Kyle—" Michael started, only to be cut off by the ringing off his cell phone. He looked at the caller id before answering. "Maria?" he asked anxiously.  
  
"No, it's me Michael," Tess said hesitantly.  
  
"What happened?" he asked, instinctively noticing her worried tone.  
  
"Maria wants me to tell you guys to continue following us to our house," she said.  
  
"We've got to get to our dad," Michael said immediately.  
  
"Look, Michael," Tess said with a sigh. "I called our house, to see if our mom was home," she started.  
  
"And?"  
  
"And your dad answered; he sounded bad Michael, really bad," she finished.  
  
"What did he say?" he asked urgently. Tess waited a beat before answering.  
  
"He asked for help, Michael."  
  
"Shit," Michael muttered under his breath. Before Tess could say anything else, Michael swiftly threw his phone against the dashboard, breaking his phone and connection to Tess.  
  
"What happened?" Max asked fearfully.  
  
"Tess called her house and dad picked up," Michael said as he gripped the wheel harder.  
  
"What did he say?" Kyle asked as he waved his hand over the pieces of Michael's cell phone, making it whole again. His improvement in his powers, though not unnoticed, went by unspoken by everyone in the car.  
  
"It doesn't look good," he said, not explaining any further. No explanation was needed as each occupant of the car settled into an unnerving silence.  
  
A few minutes later, both cars arrived at the girls' house to find police cars and ambulances surrounding the house. Not wasting any time, all eight occupants jumped out of their cars and headed to the front door. Before they could get far, a policeman stopped them.  
  
"You can't go in there," he said.  
  
"This is our house!" Isabel exclaimed angrily, barely resisting the urge to blast the man across the country.  
  
"I'm really sorry, ma'am, but this is police business," he said with sympathy.  
  
"What the hell happened?" Max asked. Before the officer could reply, a voice cut in.  
  
"I'll explain that," Jim said as he appeared behind the officer, a large bandage covering most of the left side of his head. Even with the bandage, blood was still seeping through.  
  
"Dad!" Kyle said in relief as he and his brothers rushed over to Jim, each pulling him into a grateful hug.  
  
"Are you okay?" Alex asked after they had calmed down.  
  
"I'm fine, nothing serious," Jim replied with a small smile.  
  
"Where's our mom?" Maria asked, looking past Jim in search of her mother. Jim's smile disappeared at Maria's question.  
  
"Girls..." he started.  
  
"Where is she!?" Liz asked frantically, seeing the pitiful look that came across Jim's face.  
  
"She was taken to the hospital," Jim said sadly.  
  
"What happened?" Maria asked, barely showing any emotion on her face.  
  
"We were just returning from a date," Jim started. "When we got in, Amy noticed that the door was unlocked and began to worry. I told her to stay behind me while I checked out the house—of course she didn't listen. We made it to the living room before I was knocked out. When I awoke again, Amy was lying on the floor, barely conscious; and she was battered and bruised—god, it was awful," he trailed off, remembering the beaten image of Amy that would forever be implanted in his brain.  
  
"And what happened after that?" Maria urged calmly, barely acknowledging fearful emotions running through her.  
  
"When I woke up again, there was a young girl was standing over us; she looked so evil," he explained.  
  
"Courtney," Maria said to herself.  
  
"Excuse me?" Jim asked. At the wave of Maria's hand, he continued his story. "I don't remember much after that. I vaguely remember Khivar standing over Amy. He slapped her, and when I went to stop him, the girl hit me over the head again. After that, everything just went black. When I awoke again, my head was surrounded with blood and the phone was ringing—that's when I talked to you," he said, looking at Tess. "I tried to revive Amy, but she wouldn't come to; I didn't know what to do."  
  
"So you called the ambulance," Isabel said, barely hiding her anger. "We could have healed her, but now she'll have to heal naturally. Do you realize that she may not even survive? What were you thinking!?"  
  
"Isabel, stop it," Alex said, trying to calm her down. "He did what he thought was best," he said, defending his father.  
  
"Easy for you to say," Isabel said snidely.  
  
"Just let me explain," Jim said, stopping any further arguments. "I didn't call the ambulance—they arrived before I even thought of it."  
  
"How?" Tess asked.  
  
"Khivar," Maria said with a cold laugh. "Of course he called them—that way he knows we can't heal her, therefore almost ensuring that Mom dies," she explained sardonically.  
  
"Bastard," Isabel muttered angrily.  
  
"We've got to get to the hospital," Liz said.  
  
"Yeah, let's get out of here," Maria said as she began to turn around.  
  
"Wait!" Jim said, stopping everyone's movement. "This was in Amy's hand when I woke up the last time and saw her; I didn't read it, because I think it was meant for you guys to read," he said, handing Maria a folded piece of paper. "I've got to go answer some more questions, so I'll meet you guys at the hospital," he said before turning and heading back to the other officers.  
  
Maria unfolded the paper and read the message briefly before folding it back up and stuffing it into her pocket. "Let's get out of here," she said, heading back to her car, her friends following quickly behind her.  
  
A few hours later, Maria found herself sitting dejectedly in a chair as she and her friends waiting for more news on Amy. When they arrived at the hospital, a doctor had come to them and briefly explained that Amy would need surgery in order to stand a chance of surviving. While the doctor had been hopeful, he made it very clear that the surgery didn't guarantee Amy's life. It was for that reason that she and her friends were spread around the waiting room, hoping to hear news on Amy's surgery.  
  
While waiting, Maria and Michael had quickly explained the flashes they received at the Crashdown to their friends. And although shocking and angering, the revelation of the flashes seemed to worry and frighten their friends more than anything else. Looking up, Maria saw Alex throw his hand over Isabel's shoulders and rub them in soothing way; she saw Isabel give him a grateful smile before looking off into space again. Across from Isabel and Alex, Maria saw Liz lay her head on Max's shoulder as another flow of tears assaulted her. Next to Max and Liz, Maria watched as Kyle slowly took Tess's small hand in his own and squeezed it in a gentle, reassuring way.  
  
Unable to watch any longer, Maria turned away. Since she had heard of Amy's sufferings from Jim, she slipped into the mode that always gave her comfort when she was scared; she closed herself off. She didn't need the comforting hugs or the gentle shoulder rubs. She needed to be strong; she had to be strong. Glancing to her right, Maria saw Michael staring at her expectedly.  
  
"If you're waiting for me to break down in tears, you're wasting your time," she said quietly, not bothering to look at him.  
  
Michael, startled that Maria had seen him staring, let out a loud sigh before speaking.  
  
"Of course not," he said. "God forbid you show any weakness in front of anyone," he said, hoping Maria would take his bait. She did.  
  
"Excuse me?" Maria hissed, turning to him angrily. "How dare you say that to me!"  
  
"It's the truth, isn't it?" he asked calmly.  
  
"You don't know what you're talking about," she said, turning away.  
  
"Actually, I think I do, Blondie," Michael said. "You're scared and worried and instead of expressing your feelings, you're closing yourself off because for some weird reason you believe that closing yourself off will somehow lessen the pain," he said, each word hitting Maria harder than the one before.  
  
"And how would you know?" she asked coldly. "What, you know me for a few months and all of sudden you can read my soul? Fat chance, Guerin." Michael involuntarily flinched at Maria's words before continuing to speak.  
  
"So maybe I can't read your soul, but I know you, Blondie. And right now, I bet you think you're being strong, don't you?" he asked. Maria stayed silent and continued to stare at the wall across from her. "I knew it," he muttered.  
  
"Just go away," Maria said.  
  
"No, because you need to hear the truth, and I'm going to be the one to give it to you," he said as he knelt down in front of her.  
  
"And what is your so-called 'truth'?" she asked sardonically.  
  
"The truth is, you're not being strong—you're hiding," he said, watching as her eyes glazed with anger. "If you're looking for someone to commend you on your strength or admire your ability to stay calm, you're not going to get it. Because as far as I'm concerned, you're just being a coward and hiding behind a wall that you built for yourself," he said, not wanting to hurt Maria, but knowing that she needed to hear this.  
  
Maria stared angrily at Michael, not wanting to hear the truth in his words. Angrily, and more forceful than Michael could have expected, she pushed him out of her way and bolted out of the waiting room.  
  
"Maria!" Isabel said, already getting up to follow her.  
  
"I'll go," Michael said. "Just stay here and wait for the doctor," he said before turning and heading out the same door that Maria fled from seconds ago.  
  
Fifteen minutes later, Michael was still searching around the hospital for Maria. He was about to head back to the waiting room when he saw a small figure sitting curled up in a ball through the glass doors of the hospital exit. Without wasting time, Michael hurried out of the hospital and to the figure, knowing instinctively that it was Maria. As he got closer, he heard her muffled sobs and wished he could take away all the pain she was feeling. But he couldn't, so he had to do the next best thing; he had to help her deal with it.  
  
"Hey," he said quietly, coming up next to her. Maria immediately wiped her eyes and stood up to her full height to stare Michael in the eyes.  
  
"What, you didn't finish insulting me in the hospital? Did you come back for round two?" she asked crossly while glaring at him.  
  
"I wasn't trying to insult you—"  
  
"You could've fooled me," Maria interrupted. "Look, Guerin, I'm not in the mood for you now, just leave me alone," she said as she prepared to walk past him.  
  
"Leave you alone so that you can carefully guard your feelings all over again? Not going to happen, Deluca. You're in pain, and I'm not letting you leave until you deal with that pain the right way," he said determinedly while pulling her arm to prevent her from leaving.  
  
"You're not letting me leave?!" Maria asked incredulously, snatching her arm from Michael's grasp. "Who the hell do you think you are?"  
  
"I'm your friend, Maria," Michael said calmly.  
  
"Some friend," Maria muttered, walking away from Michael and in the opposite direction of the hospital. She took a seat on the empty pavement on the floor and tried to ignore the fact that Michael was watching her every move. After a few minutes of silence, she finally spoke up again.  
  
"Michael, please, just leave me alone," she pleaded.  
  
Michael's heart skipped at beat at the pain and desperation in her voice. In an instant, he was sitting next to her with his arms around her. Maria immediately tensed up in his arms before finally giving into the embrace.  
  
"It's okay, you know," Michael said soothingly.  
  
"What?" Maria asked, confused.  
  
"It's okay to cry," Michael explained.  
  
"I can't," Maria said, pulling out of his arms. "I'm too emotional, Michael. The minute I let my emotions show, I lose control of the mission. I can't do that—too many lives depend on my ability to stay strong and in control," she explained.  
  
"We're all emotional, Ria," Michael said. "I mean, look at me, besides you, I'm as weird and emotional as they come. I know what it's like to lose control of something because my emotions got the better of me, but I don't let that stop me from expressing myself."  
  
"It's different, Michael," she said with a sigh.  
  
"How so?" he asked, looking into her eyes.  
  
"I'm always the strong one. My sisters expect that from me, I can't be weak. Showing weakness is admitting defeat."  
  
"Maybe you're right," Michael said with a sigh.  
  
"Really?" Maria asked in surprise.  
  
"I know how you feel, Ria. There are times when my brothers or family tend to unconsciously look to me for answers, and there are times when I feel like it's my job to always have the answers," he said.  
  
"Then you understand how hard it is to show and kind of weakness when everyone expects to see you strong and dependable."  
  
"Yeah, maybe I do," Michael said. After a slight pause, he added, "But they're still my family, Ria. And despite my pride and stubbornness, I know that they would never expect me to close myself off just to make them feel better. They'd always be there for me, just like your sisters would for you. You've got to understand that."  
  
"I can't, I just can't. I can't become some sad, depressed teenager when an entire planet is in danger of being destroyed—it just doesn't seem fair to them."  
  
"And what about you? Is it fair for you to have to close yourself off and become hard when you'd rather just cry out your pain?"  
  
"It's not the same," she said quietly. Michael sighed at her statement, realizing that he wasn't getting through to her.  
  
"Fine," Michael grunted out. "Just promise me something, Ria."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Don't close off from me. I never have and never will expect you to have to always be strong around me. I want you to be open and be yourself, always," he said, running his hands though her hair. Maria smiled slightly at him, surprised and touched by his statement.  
  
"I'll try," she said softly.  
  
"Good," he said with a smile before wrapping his arms around her as she laid her head on his shoulder.  
  
"She'll be okay, right?" Maria asked after a few silent minutes.  
  
"I don't know," Michael said sadly, wishing he could agree with Maria, but not wanting to give her false hope. "I may have only known Amy for a few months, but I know she's strong." As an afterthought, he added, "And I doubt she'll let a girl half her age keep her down for long." Maria laughed lightly at his comment before becoming quiet again. After a minute, she spoke up.  
  
"I'm worried," she said, finally voicing her feelings.  
  
"I'm sure Amy will do her best to fight this," he said, trying to placate her worries.  
  
"I'm sure she will too," Maria said. "But I was referring to Khivar," she said. She felt Michael tense at the mention of his name. "He crossed the line today, I don't plan on letting him get away with it."  
  
"Same here," he said in a stoical tone, barely containing his anger towards Khivar. "We shouldn't talk about this now—my brothers and your sisters need to be present for this conversation."  
  
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Maria said with an exhausted sigh, her tears, outbursts, and fears finally catching up to her. Before she could suggest going back into the hospital, Isabel, Liz, and Tess came barging out. They stopped suddenly when they saw Maria in Michael's arms.  
  
"Sorry," Tess said quietly.  
  
"No problem," Michael said with a smile. "I'm going to go find my brothers, I'll see you inside, okay?" he said, turning to Maria.  
  
"Okay," Maria said with a smile. "Thanks, for everything," she said.  
  
"Anytime," he replied. "Remember what I said, they're your sisters, they'll always be there for you," he said, squeezing her hand before getting up and walking back into the hospital.  
  
Maria turned to see her sisters staring expectedly at her, all wearing smirks on their face. Refusing to acknowledge the smirks, Maria spoke up.  
  
"Any news on Mom?" she asked.  
  
"She just got out of surgery," Isabel said excitedly, replacing her smirk with a large smile. "The doctor said we could see her for a while."  
  
"Is she okay?" Maria asked anxiously.  
  
"The doctor said that the surgery was a success, but they can't guarantee anything until they've observed her for a few more days," Liz replied. "But it looks good, Ria. If the surgery was a success, then Mom has to be okay," she said enthusiastically.  
  
"Oh, thank God," Maria said with a large sigh as she pulled her sisters into a group hug. "Well, let's go and see her," Maria said excitedly, preparing to enter the hospital.  
  
"Ria, wait," Isabel said, stopping all of them from entering.  
  
"What?"  
  
"You know we're here for you, right?" she asked hesitantly.  
  
"What are you talking about?" Maria asked.  
  
"I heard part of your conversation with Michael in the hospital before you stormed out," Isabel explained. "I just want you to know that Tess, Liz and I don't expect you to be strong all the time."  
  
"I know that Iz," Maria said, not looking up at her sisters.  
  
"Are you sure?" Tess asked. "Because I could tell how much pain you were in Ria, but you didn't let one tear drop fall from your eyes. And this isn't the first time you've closed yourself off when you were scared or worried about something—you do it all the time," she said  
  
"I just..."  
  
"Want to be strong for us," Liz finished off. "Look Ria, we've been together all our lives, and if we can't count on each other in our weakest moments, who can we count on?"  
  
"You're right," Maria said, finally looking up. "I don't know why I thought you guys wouldn't understand," she said.  
  
"Yeah, well that's because you're one stubborn girl," Tess joked. Her sisters laughed at her comment.  
  
"So are we clear?" Isabel asked. "No more hiding from us, regardless of the situation, okay?"  
  
"I'll try," Maria said with a smile, remembering saying the same words to Michael only a few minutes ago.  
  
"Good," Tess said with a smile. "Now come on, I want to hurry up and see Mom. The doctor said she probably won't be able to stay awake for long, and I want to talk to her," she said impatiently as she took Maria's hand and started dragging her back into the hospital, Isabel and Liz following after them.  
  
"What room is she in?" Maria asked as they entered the hospital.  
  
"Room 114, come on, it's just around the corner," Tess said as she continued to drag Maria. "  
  
"Here it is," Liz said as they approached the room door. "Are you ready?" she asked her sisters anxiously.  
  
"Of course we are," Tess said, and without waiting another second, she pushed open the door and walked in, Maria, Liz, and Isabel following after her.  
  
"Oh my god," Isabel gasped out as soon as she saw walked into the room.  
  
Amy lay there, immobile, sleeping quietly. Her leg was held up in a cast. Her face was covered with black and blue bruises and her arms had a purplish color to them. And her eyes, eyes that were once lively, were swollen and surrounded by deep cuts. Through her hospital gown, one could see her bruised and bandaged ribs. She looked so weak and fragile, nothing like the strong, stubborn mother they had all grown up with. It was as if she was broken, whitewashed...defeated.  
  
"I can't believe they did this to her," Tess said quietly, still stuck in her position by the door.  
  
"Courtney should be thankful I didn't get my hands on her," Isabel said darkly. "She would have been begging for death by the time I got through with her."  
  
"It doesn't matter—she's gone," Maria said, unable to take her eyes off her mother. Hesitantly, she walked closer to Amy's bed and stood over her. Tess followed her, a bit more hesitantly, and stood by Maria. Liz and Isabel headed over to the bed and stood on the other side of Amy's bed, opposite Maria and Tess. The four of them stood there watching, waiting, for anything to happen. After a few more minutes, Amy slowly opened her eyes.  
  
"Mom?"  
  
"What happened?" Amy asked groggily, her eyes closing instinctively to the bright hospital lights. Suddenly, the night's events came rushing back to her and her eyes snapped open. "Khivar! He was at the house!" she said worriedly.  
  
"Mom, calm down," Isabel said, seeing her heart beat speed up on the monitor. "Dr. Anderson said that you shouldn't exert yourself."  
  
"He was with a girl," Amy said quickly, ignoring Isabel's warnings. "You girls have to watch out for them."  
  
"Relax," Maria said. "We already found the girl, her name is Courtney, by the way. We took care of her, don't worry about it," she said, wanting Amy to relax.  
  
"And Khivar?"  
  
"Is still out there," she replied with a sigh. "But don't worry, we'll deal with him when the time is right," she added.  
  
"So, you girls are okay?" Amy asked, still not calming down.  
  
"Yes, we're fine; we should be the one asking you that question," Liz said as she took a seat on Amy's bed.  
  
"Me? Oh, don't worry about me. What wimp couldn't handle a little torturing session," Amy joked, trying to ease their worries.  
  
"That's not funny," Maria said silently. "You could have died."  
  
"But I didn't," Amy protested. "And besides, I don't even feel half as bad as I look," she added, gesturing to the bruises all around her.  
  
"You still could have died," Isabel said. After a pause she added softly, "Because of us."  
  
Amy groaned at her statement before replying. "We're not going through this again, girls. I have told you countless times that I would willingly die for each of you. I would do it because I love you girls so much and I don't blame you for any of this. You girls really have to stop feeling guilty every time I happen to get hurt by an alien, especially you Isabel. It's not your fault and I know you girls must be getting tired of hearing this, because I know I'm getting tired of saying it," she ended with a smile.  
  
"You're right," Tess said, smiling with Amy. "God knows we've heard that speech too many times."  
  
"Exactly," Amy said. "So do me a favor and don't make me say it again."  
  
"Deal," they said with smiles.  
  
"All right, so aside from my near death experience, how was your day today?"  
  
"Well..."Maria started with a smile as she began to talk.  
  
Half an hour later, Jim quietly poked his head into Amy's hospital room.  
  
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but the doctor said that you have to leave—Amy needs her rest," he said.  
  
"Can't we sleep over?" Isabel asked.  
  
"Not tonight; she just got out of surgery and Dr. Anderson would prefer her to be alone and to relax," Jim replied reluctantly, seeing the sad expressions that came across the girls' faces.  
  
"Hey, don't worry about me," Amy said reassuringly. "Just go home and get some rest—I'll be fine here."  
  
"Are you sure?" Liz asked.  
  
"Yeah, of course I am," she replied. "Just go home and sleep; tomorrow you girls can come here bright and early," she said.  
  
"All right," Maria said unwillingly. "Sleep well, okay," she said before bending over to give Amy a light kiss on the cheek.  
  
"Yeah, and try not to give the nurses too much trouble," Isabel joked, also giving Amy a kiss.  
  
"I'll do my best," Amy replied with a light laugh. "Now get out of here."  
  
"You got it," Tess said and she and Liz gave Amy a kiss. "See you tomorrow."  
  
"Bye," Amy said.  
  
"Bye," Maria said before walking out of the room with her sisters and Jim.  
  
"The guys are still in the waiting room," Jim said once they left the room.  
  
"Are you going to go home?" Maria asked.  
  
"No, I think I'm going to camp outside of her room to make sure she's okay through the night," he said sheepishly.  
  
"You don't have to do that," she said with a grateful smile.  
  
"I want to. After all, this probably wouldn't have happened if I had protected her," he said.  
  
"You tried, Jim," Isabel said with a sympathetic smile. "It's not your fault, and my mom would kill if she knew that you were blaming yourself," she added with a laugh.  
  
"I bet she would," Jim said. "Either way, I'd just feel better if I could keep an eye on her."  
  
"All right," Maria said, grateful that Jim cared so much for her mother. "If anything happens, just call us."  
  
"No problem. Now you go find my sons and head home and rest, you all need it."  
  
"We will," Tess said before she and her sisters headed back to the waiting room. They found Michael, Max, Alex, and Kyle sitting around each other and talking silently. Max was the first to notice their arrival.  
  
"How is she?" he asked hesitantly.  
  
"She's a little weak, and badly beaten, but she'll be okay," Liz replied happily.  
  
"That's great," Alex said, releasing a breath he didn't know he was holding.  
  
"Yeah, it really is," Tess replied. "We'll be able to talk to the doctor tomorrow to find out more on her condition."  
  
"Good," Max said. "At least this incident is over and everyone's out of danger," he added.  
  
"Yeah, for now" Maria said quietly. Everyone was silent after her statement. After a minute or two Michael spoke up.  
  
"You girls should stay at our apartment tonight," he said. "We have a lot to talk about, and it may take a while," he explained. Without saying a word, the girls nodded their heads, knowing that he was right.  
  
"Let's get out of here," Maria said before walking past everyone and heading out of the hospital, her sisters and friends trailing behind her.  
  
No one said a word on the way over to the apartment, and everyone preferred it that way; they were too lost in their thoughts to carry on some mindless conversation. Almost twenty minutes later, they arrived at the apartment and entered silently. They took their seats all around the living room—some on the couch, some on the floor—and stayed silent, waiting for someone to break the silence.  
  
"Do you girls want anything to drink?" Alex asked feebly. He received nods of no. "Are you hungry?" he asked. "Diane came to cook for us yesterday; we have—"  
  
"He crossed the line," Maria said coldly, interrupting Alex. "It's one thing to leave us on the brink of death, but what he and Courtney did to Amy was going too far."  
  
"And he dragged our dad into it, too," Kyle said darkly. "We can't let him get away with it."  
  
"We won't," Michael said determinedly. "Today, Khivar set the standards for this twisted war when he went after Amy and Jim; we're going to make sure he regrets it."  
  
"Michael's right," Maria agreed. "All we've been doing is waiting for Khivar to attack and hope that we'll be able to win the battle. But that stops now," she said.  
  
"What do you want us to do?" Isabel asked icily, her fear for Amy disappearing and her hatred for Khivar returning.  
  
"I want us to win," Maria said. "And the only way that's going to happen is if we're prepared. No more sitting down and waiting for Khivar to come after us—we're going to go after Khivar."  
  
"We're not powerful enough yet," Alex said. "Especially us" he added, gesturing to himself, Max Kyle, and Michael.  
  
"Then we become powerful," Michael said. "We practice our powers everyday after school. And on weekends, we work from dawn to dusk; not a day goes by that we aren't in that desert strengthening our powers—all of us," he said in a tone that left no room for argument.  
  
"And we shouldn't just practice our powers," Kyle said. "It'd help all of us if we could fight not just with our powers, but with our hands," he said.  
  
"The four of us used to take martial arts classes, we'll help you girls become more skilled in that department," Alex said to the girls.  
  
"And we question everything," Liz added. "We find out why only Michael and Maria can open the cave where the Granolith is hidden. We find out why my sisters and I have a small memory about our past lives, while the four of you don't remember anything."  
  
"And we find out why the only memories Michael has received have only been when he's around Maria and why they receive them at the same time," Max added.  
  
"And when we go after Khivar in a battle, we capture some of his soldiers," Tess chimed in. "We do a little torturing of our own and get as many answers as we can from them."  
  
"And if they don't talk, we get rid of them and move on to the next, until they get the message and start to talk," Isabel supplied.  
  
"And most importantly—we stick together through all of this. We don't have a huge, powerful army like Khivar to fight with. The eight of us, we are the army. So we protect each other, we trust each other, and if need be, we die for each other," she said.  
  
"We're a unit, a team, and from this moment on, we're a family," Michael said, looking into the eyes of everyone in the room, his eyes lingering briefly on Maria's.  
  
"Khivar wants a war—we'll give him one," Maria said.  
  
"And we'll win this time," Isabel said confidently.  
  
"You're damn right we will," Alex said in an uncharacteristically icy tone.  
  
"Khivar will rue the day he decided to mess with the Royal Eight," Tess added.  
  
"That he will," Maria said before pulling out the letter that Jim had given her earlier that night. She reread it before handing it to Alex. Alex read it and wordlessly passed it to Tess who was sitting next to him. Tess did the same before handing the paper to Max. Max then handed it to Isabel, who handed it to Liz. Liz silently handed the paper to Kyle who was sitting across the floor from her. Kyle stood and walked over to Michael, giving him the paper to read. Michael looked at everyone around him before finally looking at the paper and reading the message out loud.  
  
Dear Royals,  
  
Let the games begin.  
  
Khivar  
  
He crumpled the paper and threw it on the coffee table in front of all of them. Liz immediately waved her hand over the paper and turned it to ashes.  
  
"Yes, Khivar," Maria said steely. "Let them."  
  
TBC...  
  
Please leave feedback!!! 


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